Hagar was a lowly servant girl to Sarah in Genesis 16. Abraham had received a promise from God that he would have descendants so numerous that they could not be counted. Abraham believed God. But the years went by, month after month, Sarah was not able to conceive. Disappointment and pressure mounted. Finally she came up with a solution, something that was a commonplace custom in her culture. She offered her servant girl, Hagar, as basically a surrogate mother.
Hagar had no say in the matter, no choice at all. She was taken to the bed of her master Abraham to bear his child. Whether she went willingly or not, we aren’t told. But we do know that when she became pregnant she had an attitude. She brought trouble on herself. “She despised Sarah.” Despise means to scorn, to look with contempt upon.
About this time, Sarah probably realized this whole scheme was a bad idea. She countered by treating Hagar harshly. This was not one big happy family! Hagar whose name means flee, lived up to her name by fleeing into the wilderness. She fled to get as far from Sarah as she could.
Hagar had no provisions and she was pregnant. She had been mistreated and probably felt justified because she had been maligned and wronged. She was all alone, she probably thought no one in this world even knows where I am. No one cares. But how wrong she was. Someone was looking for her. His name is El Roi.
Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness on the way to Shur. This angel of the Lord is God Himself who came to Hagar in the form of a man. “ And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from and where are you going?” The Lord doesn’t ask questions of us because He needs information. He asks to direct our attention. He wants Hagar to consider something. He wants her to level with Him “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.” Then the angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit yourself to her authority.” He goes on to give a detailed prophecy about the son that she will bear in Genesis 16:10-12.
Up until that moment, God had been someone else’s God to Hagar, the God of her master Abraham and mistress Sarah. But now she had a personal encounter with the living God, one on one. She expressed this experience with God in Genesis 16:13-14 by saying, “Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, Thou are a God who sees. For she said have I even remained alive here after seeing him? Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi, which means the well of the Living One who sees me.”
He sees me!!! His eye is not just on important people like Abraham and Sarah. He sees me!!!
El Roi which means, the God who sees, went looking for Hagar and He found her. Of course He knew where she as all along, but the language in Genesis 16 conveys that he was searching for her. He met her with the truth that she was valued. She had significance. Hagar could stop her lifetime of fleeing. She mattered to El Roi. She was not invisible. He had purpose for her life and a plan for her and a destiny for her son. He met the lowly rebellious servant girl with his wonderful life giving truth that she had significance.
El Roi is the same yesterday, today and forever. God is still El Roi. He sees exactly what is going on in your life. He knows where you are in your struggles. He sees the hurt that others inflict on you. He knows when it is too much and you want to cut and run. He is the God who sees. Let Him meet you in your wilderness with His tender truth. You are significant. He sees you!
