God Sees You

God sees you. He sees all you are going through–the good and the bad. You are the apple of his eye. 

Inside our heart lies an innate need to be seen. Our personalities may affect this to some degree, but everyone needs to be seen by others and by God. Maybe it’s in our DNA. Maybe we get it from our Dad—our heavenly Papa in whose image we were created. Scripture tells us He wants to be known and seen. So, maybe that’s why deep in our core, we need to be seen too.

I love those who love me,
and those who seek me find me.

Proverbs 8:17

HAGAR AND THE GOD WHO SEES

The Bible tells a story of a slave woman who encountered the God who sees. As she ran away from an abusive situation, God met her in the desert. Hagar’s meeting with the Living God did not change her situation, but it changed her. Knowing that God saw her situation and her future gave her strength to return to Sarai and Abram and give birth to a son. Listen to the hope in her voice,

She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are (El Roi) the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees (raha) me” Genesis 16:13 (additions mine).

Being seen by God was not fearful to Hagar. She wasn’t afraid. Instead, Hagar felt blessed by His presence and she says, “I’ve seen the One who raha me. This word means to understand or experience.

To be seen by God means more than a visual encounter. For God to “see” you means He “gets” you.

GOD HELPS US SEE

Years later God met Hagar again. This time she was brokenhearted. Abraham had chosen Sarah and Isaac over her and Ishmael. Rejected and thrown away, Haggar had given up hope. All seemed lost.

Their water supply depleted, Hagar sat Ishmael under some shade, but she knew they wouldn’t live long without water. Her momma heart couldn’t stand watching her son die, so she found another place to sit farther away. El Roi, however, was watching. This time He opened her eyes to the provision she needed to survive and keep Ishmael alive.

God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

Genesis 21:17-19

BLINDED BY GRIEF

I’ve always wondered if grief blinded Hagar to the source of water. The Bible does not tell us God miraculously made a well, but that he opened her eyes to see it. How many times have I not seen the provision right in front of me, and all I needed to do was ask El Roi to open my eyes?

JESUS AND THE SAMARITAN WOMAN

Many centuries later, another rejected woman met the incarnate God who sees at a well. We don’t know her name, but we do know where she lived and how many husbands she married. Jesus sat by the well outside a Samaritan village at just the right time to meet this rejected woman. The fact Jesus knew when to be at the well and her living situation proves he’d seen her. Before their encounter, El Roi had already seen her circumstances and knew her heart.

It’s easy to point fingers at this woman who’d been married five times, but Jesus, the God who sees, chose her. He chose her to be the first evangelist in Samaria. He saw through the toughened exterior and saw her heart—the heart of a woman who only wanted to be loved. The heart of a woman desperately awaiting Messiah and seeking true worship. That’s who El Roi saw.

JESUS SAW MANY

Jesus was the image of the invisible God. Everything He did and said demonstrated the heart of El Roi. He saw Nathanael sitting under the fig tree and Zacchaeus in a sycamore. He knew where to find Peter after he’d denied him three times, and he had watched Paul as he threw Jesus’s followers into prison.

WHY WE NEED TO BE SEEN BY GOD

But God’s desire to see us is more than a visual feat. When he sees us, he knows us. This is one of three reasons why it’s important to know that our God is El Roi. The innate need to be seen throbs in our hearts because to be seen by God means:

1. We’re valuable to Him.
2. He knows what we need.
3. He understands us because He sees what we’re going through.

3 SCRIPTURES ON THE GOD WHO SEES US

Jeremiah 12:3a, ESV

But you, O Lord, know me; you see me, and test my heart toward you.

In this scripture, not only does the Lord see Jeremiah, but he also knows him and his heart. Do you ever feel unfairly judged by people who do not really know you? God sees you and knows your motives.

Psalm 33:18

But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,

Another way to understand this verse is to understand that God’s eyes are on those who worship Him and trust Him. The word “love” was translated from chesed which is God’s merciful, loving acts-of-kindness. Soak in the truth of His awareness of your needs and unfailing chesed to get us through as we worship Him. Some of us need to turn on our favorite worship playlist or Christian radio station today.

Jeremiah 1:5, ESV

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations. 

God spoke this to Jeremiah, but this is not the only scripture about God knowing us in the womb. He is the God who knows all of us in the womb and appoints us for His purposes. Maybe you aren’t a prophet, but He has appointed you for your purposes today.

A Prayer to the God Who Sees

The God who sees us is a prayer away. Let’s pray.

“El Roi, the God who sees, I pray for all reading this post to experience you in the driest places of their lives. Those places of grief, hopelessness, frustration, and fear. I pray their eyes will be open to your well, their ears open to your voice, and their heart aware of your loving presence. Thank you for seeing us and all that this means. You get us. You value us. We are not invisible to you. Thank you. Thank you. Amen.

 

PS. If this encouraged you, check out the three day devotional on the YouVersion app entitled, El Roi, Encounter the God Who Sees.