No matter who you are or what you’ve done, God, the creator of the heavens and earth, cares about you. And what’s more awesome is, the very first person to ever call God by His name, El Roi was an Egyptian slave, a castoff from the crowd, and a woman who, by that day’s standard, would be considered a nobody. But she wasn’t a nobody to God.
We meet this woman named Hagar in Genesis 16 when she is brought into the twisted saga of Abraham’s wife Sarah, who is desperate to have a child. God promised Abraham that he would father a child late in life and through that child all nations would be blessed. The Reader’s Digest version of the story goes like this: Sarah became impatient for God’s plan. (I can relate to you, Sarah-girl.) She made the hasty decision to let her husband sleep with her maidservant. (I can’t relate to that! It’s messed up on so many levels!) Hagar conceived and gave birth to Ishmael. Sarah got jealous (imagine that), mistreated Hagar, and Hagar ran away. Let’s join up with Hagar near a spring in the desert on the road to Shur (Gen. 16:7), where she converses with the angel of the Lord.
The angel listens and speaks prophecy over her unborn child. Scripture references the conversation this way, “The Lord talked to Hagar” (Gen.16:13, ERV). Hagar’s response is priceless. “She began to use a new name for God. She said to him, ‘You are “God Who Sees Me.”’ She said this because she thought, “I see that even in this place God sees me and cares for me!” (Gen.16:13 ERV).
God believes everyone is worthy of seeing. He sees in us what no one else can: a worthwhile possibility.
God is El Roi, the God who sees. He sees our fears. He sees our faults. He sees our failures and frailties. We see them too, but unlike God, we allow these deficiencies to hold us back from walking out the call God has for our life. Hagar had failed. She was part of a scheme that interrupted her life, but she didn’t wreck God’s plan. (Remember: His plans won’t be thwarted, no matter how royally we mess up.) God wants to use our weaknesses to strengthen us, rather than weigh us down.
Friends-
My new book, Hidden Potential: Revealing What God Can Do Through You, releases next Sunday. Oh my gracious, I am so excited about the message of this book and the freedom it offers God’s girls!
Be sure pre-order your copy so you can get all the freebies, including the Introduction and Chapter 1. Follow this link to order your copy. You don’t want to miss this message.
Here’s the link to the book page: Hidden Potential book
