El Roi: Encounter the God Who Sees YouNäide

God did not remove Hagar out of her terrible situation after their first encounter. In fact, He told her to go back to Sarai and Abram. The God who sees does not always deliver us from difficulty. But He did give Hagar hope which gave her strength to go back. God promised a future for her son and blessed her with the same blessing He had given Abraham. ““I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count” Genesis 16:10.

Years later God met Hagar again. This time she was brokenhearted. The promised baby, Isaac had been born, and Sarah demanded Hagar and Ishmael gone. Though Abraham loved Ishmael, God instructed him to send them away.

In Hagar’s eyes, Abraham had chosen Sarah and Isaac over her and Ishmael. Rejected and thrown away, wandering in the desert, Hagar gave up hope. All seemed lost.

Their water supply depleted, Hagar sat Ishmael under a bush for shade. Her momma heart couldn’t watch her son die, so she found another place to sit farther away. El Roi, however, was watching. This time He opened her eyes to the provision she needed to survive and keep Ishmael alive.

I’ve always wondered if grief blinded Hagar to the source of water. The Bible does not tell us God miraculously made a well, but that he opened her eyes to see it. How many times have I not seen the provision right in front of me, and all I needed to do was ask El Roi to open my eyes?

El Roi sees you.

You are valuable to Him.

He understands you because He sees what you’re going through.

He knows what you need.

Are you going through a difficult, hopeless season? Cry out to El Roi. Ask Him to open your eyes to the provision He has for you.

Prayer:

El Roi, do you see my desperate situation? Do you know the desert place I’m walking through right now—the dry, rejected, lonely place I sit? You are the God who sees. If the answer to my problem or the provision I need is in front of me, open my eyes to see what you already have provided. Thank you, El Roi. Amen.