El-Roi

I firmly believe that we should all have a personal name for God. One of the names that He gives us in the Bible, but that be the name that we use when we speak to Him. There is Abba (Daddy), Yahweh (I AM), El Shaddai (God Almighty), and many, many others. Our God is a god of many names.

But I use El-Roi.

It means "the God who sees me." Now, stop and think about that. The God who sees me. He sees me. Me, insignificant little me. He sees me.

That's big.

Because when you think about it, sight is the most important sense to human beings. We rely on sight more than any other sense. We need sight to read, drive, write, work, walk, run, wash dishes, mow the lawn, play pokemon. Sight is what we use in almost everything. Seeing is important.

In South Africa, one of the greetings is "Sawubona," which translates into "I see you". The reply is very much, "I am here". The meaning behind this is basically, I did not exist until you saw me. When you saw me, I began to exist. There is a saying in South Africa that "A person is a person because of other people".

God created us in His image. So if seeing is important to us, how much more so for Him? If the God who crafted the universe with His hands, who spoke the world into existence, if He can take the time to SEE me, how much does he love me to do that?I exist because He sees me.

And this is one of the few names that He does not give Himself. This is actually the only name that I know about that was given to Him by a woman, and by an Egyptian woman even. The story behind the name makes even more precious to me.

Hagar was Sarai's slave, way back in Genesis. You all probably know who Abraham and Sarah were. This was back when they were still Abram and Sarai.

Sarai was barren in her youth. She was Abram's only wife and she was getting frustrated by her lack of producing her husband a son, and the fact that God kept promising her husband a child, but she couldn't give him one. So in a fit of frustation and doubt, she presented her slave, Hagar, to her husband to bear a son for her.

So Abram did.

Hagar becomes pregnant, and in doing so, begins to see herself as better then Sarai. There is feuding in the women's tent, because Hagar is parading her belly around in Sarai's face, and the poor barren woman can't take it. So she goes to Abram to get him to knock the pregnant woman down a peg. Abram gives Sarai full permission to deal with her slave as she sees fit.

This is a bad, bad idea. As any woman knows, when there is jealousy between two women on different tiers of power, and the higher tier gets control of punishment, the lesser woman is going to be hurting, and hurting bad.

This is what happened. Sarai treated Hagar so badly, Hagar ran away. She ran into the desert, without water or food, big and pregnant. My sister is currently big and pregnant. It would take a lot of harsh treatment to get a pregnant woman to run away like Hagar did. Not a lot to make them cry or get angry, but to run away? That's some bad treatment right there.

 So she rested beside a well, and that's where the angel of the Lord found her. This phrase "Angel of the Lord" apparently means Jesus in his "before human form". I honestly think that it is the messenger of the Lord, who is the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, I wonder if we give too much credit to two parts of the Trinity, while ignoring the Holy Spirit.

Anyways, which part of God doesn't really matter. All you need to know is that God came down to speak to an Egyptian slave. He asked her what was wrong, guided her back to where she needed to be, and gave her the same promise he gave Abram. Her son would be the forefather of more descendants that she could count. However, Ishmael would also be like a wild donkey, and raise his hand against his relatives. Scholars believe, and I believe, that Ishmael is the ancestor of the Muslim nation.

But still, God spoke to a Gentile woman. Hagar no doubt worshiped other gods. She was Egyptian. It was how she grew up. So after God promised her this, she said to Him "You are the God who Sees me," or "You are El-Roi,". This woman has the audacity to NAME God. It's pretty amazing.

It strikes me how much God enjoys using women of different nations. When you look at Jesus's family line, three of the four women mentioned were foreigners. Even though in the Law of Moses, it states to never take a foreign wife, these three women are mentioned in Jesus's family tree. Tamar was Canaanite, Rahab was a prostitute from Jericho, and Ruth was a Moabite. In the New Testament, the first person who Jesus fully states "I AM the Messiah," was to a Samaritan woman at the well, who had had five husbands and wasn't married to the man she was living with at that time. A sinful, foreign woman was the first one to be told "I AM"

So knowing that God sees me, it gives me hope. Knowing that God is willing and fully capable to use Gentile, sinful women in His Great Plan gives me hope. Knowing that God sees me, it makes me feel loved.

God sees us as His children. He knows what we need, what we wants, and what we do. He sees me. He also sees you!

He is El-Roi. So, feel encouraged. He sees.