El Roi: The God Who Sees

Genesis 16:7-15

The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She said, "I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai." The angel of the LORD said to her, "Return to your mistress and submit to her." The angel of the LORD also said to her, "I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude." And the angel of the LORD said to her,

"Behold, you are pregnant
and shall bear a son.
You shall call his name Ishmael,
because the LORD has listened to your affliction.
He shall be a wild donkey of a man,
his hand against everyone
and everyone’s hand against him,
and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen."

So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, "You are a God of seeing," for she said, "Truly here I have seen him who looks after me." Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered.

And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.

Two and a half years ago I never would have imagined the workings of God in my daughter's heart and life. I saw my own plans for our family. I had my own vision for our family. My plans were good and beautiful and god-honoring. And I was crushed when they crumbled before me. God's gift to me in these precious children was so much better than I could have imagined. I humbly received that gift again yesterday as I listened to my oldest daughter share a simple, but powerful testimony of God's faithfulness in her life in front of her entire Sunday School class of not only students but their parents as well.

Our oldest daughter's 5th grade Sunday School class this past year studied the Children Desiring God curriculum How Majestic Is Your Name. It is a powerful study on the names and character of God. At the close of the school year, the teacher invited all the parents to join the class for a year-end celebration and asked for students to volunteer to share one of the names of God they had learned and how God had personally shown them more of His character through studying that particular name.

Serena volunteered to share about the name El Roi: The God Who Sees. It was a delight to my heart to watch my daughter articulate her knowledge of God's sovereignty over her life, His care for her even during hard seasons, and His loving provision for her. Communicating is hard for her, but she was able to simply state these truths and clearly show how God had seen her in Colombia for 10 years before coming to our family, and how God sees her now and has a good purpose for her life. Like Hagar in the passage above, Serena was able to say, "Truly here I have seen Him who looks after me." Praise God, El Roi, who sees and looks after us for His work in her heart and life!