The Hebrew name El Roi describes the Lord God who sees, knows, and understands us more completely than we or anyone else could. Perfect God sees perfectly. All knowing God, knows like no other. The One who hold the fullness of understanding, understands all things.
Growing up, my concept of God was of some high distant power who controlled the world at whim — not only distant from humanity but most certainly disconnected from my little life. I always seemed to believe there was “a god” but I did not know Him. Certainly, He felt irrelevant to my day-to-day life. Can you relate? But as a teenager, someone introduced me to this wonderful Holy Person, an amazing and loving God, who sees, knows, and understands the dilemmas of all mankind — even wretched, broken, twisted, tiny me.
The Bible gives us many names for God. Each name identifies a different aspect of His being and character. In Genesis, we find the name El Roi. El is the generic Hebrew word for God. Roi carries the meaning of shepherd, or as seeing, looking, or gazing. It is perhaps the most unlikely person who identifies God with this descriptive name.
We share more than a few similarities. Hagar’s very name means flight or stranger— an unworthy Egyptian slave alienated from God. Her mistress conscripted her to bear a son through her husband, Abraham. Hagar represents every manipulative effort that flows from human desire. When Hagar realized she was pregnant she “began to despise her mistress (Sarah)” (Genesis 16:4). Abraham gave his wife Sarah full permission to deal with the situation however she saw fit. Unfortunately, Sarah responded by mistreating her now-pregnant servant.
I perhaps would have done something similar — something vengeful, something retaliatory! Dysfunction boils over even in those chosen by God for great purposes. Hagar saw no option but to escape. In this raw reality, we all find comfort. Hagar stopped running just long enough to quench her thirst at a desert spring. Here, on her knees with hands cupped to her lips, she meets God.
“The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert … And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
Genesis 16:7-8
Where Are You Going?
God always touches the root of our problem when He speaks. “Where have you come from, and where are you going?”
He asks us similar questions. “Where have you come from, and where are you going?” Let’s stop for a moment to consider our answers. I thought I had stopped my running decades ago. This Sunday, during church service we were singing a popular song called “The Goodness of God” by Bethel Music. The bridge of the song says, “Your goodness is running after, it’s running after me. Your goodness is running after, it’s running after me.”
In the middle of the song, I realized again how intensely God’s love has been pursuing me. However, I was running away too. I felt the Holy Spirit ask me almost the same words as He asked Hagar — not with a where but with a why. “Why are you running? Why are you running from my love?” Instantly, conviction hit me. One part of me was running toward Him, while another part was running the other way.
If someone, anyone other than the Holy Spirit would have asked that question, I would have been in denial. There is no denying the Holy Spirit. He sees, knows, and understands even when we don’t. I stopped singing, allowing Him to search me heart. Why? Why do I find it so hard to stay … to receive His love … to stop running away when He gets uncomfortably close? What am I afraid of? That He will abandon or reject me? That He will mistreat me like Sarah did to Hagar?
These painful, honest moments with God are always redemptive, always healing, always restorative.
“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
Matthew 10:29-31
Little Sparrow
“So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
We believe, yet at the core of our being do we fully believe … so we fear instead … Such acknowledgement is difficult, but there is no way to lie to El Roi, the God who sees, knows, and understands.
Redemption never comes from running away. It only comes by running toward. God offers it to those who will face their disappointments and fears. As His grace covered Hagar, it covers us.
“Then the angel of the Lord told her, ‘Go back to your mistress and submit to her‘ … for the Lord has heard of your misery.”
Genesis 16:9,11
Whatever our “it” is — that thing that keeps us running — God sees, knows, and understands. He calls us to turn around, go back to Him, to stop our running, and find a place of rest only found in Him.
How long, sweet friend? How long have we been running? What is our why — our frail reason for not submitting to Him? The answers rest between us and the loving God who sees, knows, and understands us more than we understand ourselves.
He Sees
Don’t we all long to be seen, known, and understood? Isn’t that the hunger within every heart?
Hagar met The One. Here by a spring in a vast desert, she saw Him, El Roi. For the first time, He became intimately personal. The One who knew and heard her misery.
“She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”
Genesis 16:13
Like with Hagar, He meets us even in our frantic running and endless wandering. May we stop long enough to see what Hagar saw that day long ago. May we see El Roi, who sees, knows, and understands everything about us — not with judgment but with grace, not with condemnation but with love, not to destroy but to rebuild.
No one has run so far that they have outrun Him. May we each experience our own Holy Spirit moment right now. Like the song goes on to say, “With my life laid down, I’m surrendered now, I give you everything. Your goodness is running after, it’s running after me.” Let’s lay it down, sweet saint. Let’s lay it all down in surrender and stop running from His love that radically pursues us.
**********
Beautiful, powerful, and relatable message, thank you MaryAnn.