El Roi, The God Who Sees

His name is El Roi, and he is the God who sees. 

If I was to pick one name of God that has most shaped my faith, it would be El Roi. I think it is the most significant, most intimate characteristic of God that enables me to trust that He is everything else he says he is. 

Because God sees us individually. 

The first time God is introduced as El Roi is towards a single woman, Hagar. It isn’t when a whole nation is facing persecution or in a context where a large number of people are involved. In Genesis chapter 16, Hagar has been used, and she has been mistreated. She runs away into the desert, and God finds her there and speaks to her. Just her.

The text doesn’t specify, but I’m certain that it changes her. Because when God has found me alone in the desert and spoken just to me, it has changed me too.

The moments in my life where God has shown me that he sees me have given me a fullness of life that is unlike anything else and a hope to persevere through situations when things don’t work out like I expect.

Get to know this God. 

Talk to him. Read his Word. Listen. He is sure to change your life.

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Talk: Specifically, you can pray things like:
God, show me that you see me.
God, show me how you see me.
God, show me what you see.

Read: Genesis 16
What do you learn about Hagar? What about her and her situation resonates with you? Pray, what might God be teaching you through this text? 

Psalm 121
What do you learn about God? How can this Psalm bring you comfort when you consider El Roi, the God who sees?

Listen: What is God saying to you? Continue in prayer and continue in the Word, and continue to listen. He will speak.

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Additional resource – Outside of the Bible itself, a book that has significantly influenced my walk with the Lord and my relationship with El Roi is Unseen, by Sara Hagerty.

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Join me in this study!