El Roi, the God who sees me.

The Bible is full of names for God, many of which describe the things God is or the things God does. El Olam, for example, means God is Everlasting, El Shaddai, meaning God [is] Almighty, and El Hakkadosh, God is Holy, to name but a few. In Genesis 16, we read that God is El Roi, the God who sees.

Genesis 16 tells the story of Hagar, the Egyptian slave of Abram and Sarah, who was pregnant and forced to flee into the desert after being mistreated by Sarah. The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a wellspring in the desert and gave her clear instructions on what to do next; He told her to go back. In response, Hagar named the well ‘Beer Lahai Roi,’ which means ‘Well of the Living One who sees me.’ “You are the God who sees me,” she declared. “I have seen the one who sees me.”

Have you experienced an injustice first-hand where something that was just not right happened to you? God saw it. Perhaps it’s happening now; God sees it.

Hagar’s understandable response to such a situation was to get away, to retreat in isolation to a lonely barren desert. Sometimes God does call us to set boundaries and remove ourselves from people or places that hurt us, which is absolutely right.

God pursued Hagar, and in her lowest moment, He let her know He saw her, her pain, her loneliness, and the injustice she faced. He also saw her situation and her need. Nobody can survive alone in the desert but knowing that God saw her gave Hagar the confidence to return to the community she had fled.

God sees you, He sees your loneliness, He sees the injustice, and He sees the way forward.