The Names of God Meeting And Knowing God as El Roi The God Who Sees Genesis 16:7-16 7 The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And he said, Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going? She said, I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai. 9 The angel of the LORD said to her, Return to your mistress and submit to her. 10 The angel of the LORD also said to her, I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude. 11 And the angel of the LORD said to her, Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has listened to your affliction. 12 He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen. 13 So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, You are a God of seeing, for she said, Truly here I have seen him who looks after me. 14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered. 15 And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram. We have been studying the Names of God. Psalm 9:10 And those who know your name will put their trust in you. We have studied His Name Elohim God the Creator (Genesis 1:1) He is all we need - My Satisfaction He has all we need - My Sufficiency He is doing all that we need done My Supply El Elyon God the Most High God (Daniel 4 & Genesis 14) His Position Over You is Supreme His Power Over You is Sovereign His Plan For You is Simple Acknowledge His Sovereignty Admit Your Sin Accept His Salvation This morning we want you to begin to meet and know God as El Roi The God Who Sees Here is a young servant girl she has been used and then abused. Then is here running into the wilderness to get back to her home in Egypt. She is carrying in her womb a little boy who will become the father of the Arab nations. His name will be Ishmael, which means, God hears. As she is desperate to get home the Lord finds her. 7 The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur.
This chapter is one of the interesting chapters in the entire OT. Here we find God dealing with someone, you would not expect Him to be bothered with. That someone is a little misplaced servant girl by the name of Hagar. Hagar had come from Egypt. Abraham had gone to Egypt in a time of famine. There he exposed his nephew Lot to worldly ways of Egypt. He himself also was sent back by God to Canaan with a little bit of Egypt. A great lesson here: Sin, no matter how forgiven it may be, still has some consequences. Some say, I am going to sow my will oats and ask God to forgive me and then pray for a crop failure and try to live a righteous life. Reckless living will always bear fruit latter on. So when Abraham came back from Egypt, he brought Hagar with him. Now God had promised that Abraham was going to be the father of a great nation by having a promise son through Sarah his wife. A generation of faith But time passed and the child was never born. No doubt Sarai was a good and meek lady, but there was another side to her. Whenever we get out of the will of God, we will always exhibit traits which are out of character with a Godly person. Sarai became so concerned that she would not have a child that she insisted to Abram that he take Hagar the custom of that culture and have a child by her which would be their child. This child will be our answer to God s promise. But we need to remember, God never accepts anything other than His work done His way! If you try to do His work your way it won t be blessed any more than doing something His way that is not His work! So, Abram did as she requested and a Hagar became pregnant. Hagar begins to despise Sarai Sarai gets upset about it and goes to Abram this servant girl is driving me crazy. You caused me this wrong. Abram must have said, You know there is no way to please this woman. She is the one who insisted.. But Abram said she is yours, do what you want with her.
Sarai, then mistreats her she afflicted her. Hagar then flees from Sarai and runs away to go back to Egypt. Hagar had done wrong she had despised Sarai But here she was she was misplaced, didn t want to be a servant, now in foreign country. She had been used, now she was being abused.. She was wondering if anyone cared about her. And on her way back to Egypt at this well in the wilderness, the Lord appears to her. Here is a little misplaced, abused confused girl in the wilderness meeting God as the God Who Sees.. Here is a great truth that can change you life when you meet God as the God Who Sees. It will stagger your imagination as you attempt to conceive in your mind the capacity of the God who sees everything in His great creation. What does God want us to understand about Him as He introduces Himself to us as El Roi - the God Who Sees. We will look at several things this morning: 1. The Eternal Scope of His Vision His attention is on everything all the time! The sweep of His vision moves from eternity past until eternity future. There is absolutely nothing that is outside the scope of His eyesight at this very present moment. Our human language really fails us to describe this. A. His Vision is Inclusive That means He sees everything We sometime think that we can doing something under the cover of darkness or think something in our minds that He won t see or know about. But God s vision is inclusive Nothing escapes the attention of God. Not anything. You have never thought anything, you have never done anything, you have never said anything that God does not include in His vision. His vision does not only include you on this little planet, but includes all the galaxies of all of His great creation. He has Inclusive Vision. B. His Vision is Intensive Everything that is going on, registers on the consciousness of God with equal intensity at every moment. We can only focus our attention on only one thing at a time, but not so with God. Even the smallest part of His creation Even the all of eternity past, present and future.. He sees it as a photograph before Him right now.
He sees it and He superintends it right now. This is absolutely amazing. God wants you to know the breath, the sweep, the bigness of His vision, because He wants you to know that in dealing with your life right now, He is not unaware of future developments or discoveries. God is not going to be surprised by anything that happens in the future of your life or mine, because He sees the future just like He sees right now. What He is doing in your life right now, 2. The Earthly Sensitivity of His Vision We don t know a lot about eternity and what is called the vast unknown. But we can know something about God s focus of attention right here on this earth. Sometimes our tendency is to think that since God is so preoccupied with the big picture, that we think that He can t be very attentive to the small picture, that is me, just one small person in one little planet. Would be like thinking that God is a referee, who might miss something because his vision is blocked So He makes a bad called ever now and then. God s vision is not block and it is not blurred God is looking at you right now.. He made your mind, your circumstances, your motivations Why you are here this morning. This is what Hagar discovered.. Here in verse 7, we have a theophany. What did Hagar learn about God as El Roi A. He is Personal in His Interest God showed up in a little place in the wilderness to meet a misplaced, used up, abused little girl. Do you ever feel this way. B. He is Precise in His Intent God said to her, Go back home I have a purpose for you You are going to have a child Ishmael I have a plan in you. The God who sees you personally, has a precise plan for your life. God is not messing with you taking a whack at you to see if you can do life successfully. If He had such a plan for a used up and abused servant girl think of what kind of plan He must have for you. I want you to know me as El Roi.
I want you to know the Eternal Scope of My Vision I want you to know the Earthly Sensitivity of My Vision One other thing God wants you to know.. 3. The Encouraging Strength From His Vision Remember Hagar is ask to go back to the cruel, mistreatment of her mistress. But something happened at that well that cause her to be willing to go back when she met God as El Roi. And she went back and stayed back But she met God as El Roi and she was changed.. Maybe you feel somewhat like her this morning and are wondering if you can take any more.. Maybe you have run away. People are being dishonest with you, they are mistreating you. They misunderstand you Are you in a place where you don t belong Are you in a place where it is dry Where are you today.? But if you will meet the God Who Sees You this morning. You will receive encouraging strength from His vision How did it change her life? How will it change your life? A. It Will Change Your Walk Hagar obeyed.. she did what God said to do Life took on a new meaning for her. You can put up with a whole lot if you have a purpose. One man said, If a man has a why to live for, he can make do with almost any ole how The reason some of you are fussing about the how s of your life and the circumstances of your life, is because somewhere back you lost the why of your existence. What am I doing here? What s my purpose here? Be content with your assignment 1 Corinthians 7:24 Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called. Why? Because you are My Child..and I have a purpose for you.
B. It will change your Worship (vs. 14) Here is an Egyptian servant girl, that says, I don t ever won t to forget this so she names a well Beer Lahai Roi. You want to know what worship is? It is meeting God. The choir s call to worship is ok. But the best calls to worship you really will every have is real bad problems.tough circumstances, grief pain How long has it been since you met God in such a fashion.. I don t won t to forget it. I have had a life changing experience when I met the God Who Sees. C. It will change your Work If you do work. Some people work at stuff they don t really work. How could you do less than 8 hours work for 8 hours wages when you Know God is watching you. And you are going to have to give an account to Him Hagar went back to work for someone who didn t like her.. D. It will change your Wait When you know that God sees you, you can be willing to wait for God to carry out His purpose You don t have to be so insistent. God show it to me right now.i have go to have it now do it now. Some are tired of waiting and are about to throw in the towel and are about to something that is against the principles of God.just to be doing something I ve been waiting so long for God to work out this marriage I m going ahead and getting a divorce. I ve prayed for years for my errant child or husband or wife to come back and they haven t, I m tired and I m quitting. Listen friend When you Know God sees, It will make a difference in your wait. Think of Hagar God saw her And He sees your wayward son or daughter. Or wife or husband.. She went back and she waited and the child was born and it was some years later but God did exactly what He said He would do..
What does it do for you to know that God Sees You He says, I Want you To Know ME The Eternal Scope of His Vision The Earthly Sensitivity of His Vision The Encouraging Strength of His Vision How Does God See you this morning? Are You saved He sent His Son to die for you It will make a difference in your Walk Worship Work Wait Would you trust Him today...?