Foreword
Many people live their lives as
if they do not have someone who is watching their every move. They kill, steal,
plot, and commit all types of evil without any regard to there being someone
who sits high and looks low at everything that is being done. Yet, one may pose
the question as to how our actions would change if we knew someone had a
constant eye on us. We oftentimes hear about the roaming cameras of Big Brother
watching every move we make from our ATM withdrawals to walking down the aisle
of our favorite grocery store and even the traffic cameras that are posted
throughout our city streets. There is, however, someone who has a better viewpoint
than even the best satellites NASA has in space. That Someone is Jehovah El Roi
– the God who sees. We are in His constant view twenty-four hours a day and
seven days a week. There is no moment when Jehovah El Roi does not see us. Let’s
see how Jehovah El Roi takes great care to watch over the earth and its
inhabitants as we read more into this lesson study.
Jehovah El Roi…God Who Sees
“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).
Abraham
and Sarah had awaited the promise that God had given to them concerning a child
of their own for a long time. They had not yet experienced the breakthrough for
which they were promised for many years. They were up in age and well past the
child-bearing stage as would have been common. Nevertheless, God was not
concerned with man’s time for He had made a promise to Abraham that he would be
a father of many nations. The Bible says, “I will make you into a great nation and I
will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will
bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples
on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:2-3). God had Abraham
to leave his country of birth and go to a land that he had never been. God was
setting him apart from the other people, for through him, there would be a
nation set apart for the Lord. The Bible says, “For
you are a people holy to the Lord your God, The Lord your God has chosen you
out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured
possession. The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because
you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all
peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to
your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you
from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Deuteronomy
7:6-8).
Although
the Lord had made this promise to the couple, the many years of waiting for the
child of promise caused Sarah to become impatient. Therefore, she took matters
into her own hands. The Bible says, “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had
borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; so she
said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my
maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her. Abram Agreed to what
Sarai said. So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife
took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.
He slept with Hagar and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she
began to despise her mistress” (Genesis 16:1-4). Sarah seemed to have
thought that God had taken too long or had even changed His mind concerning the
promise that He had given them. Therefore, she had her maidservant to sleep
with Abraham and Hagar became pregnant. Upon Hagar finding out the news that she
was pregnant, she became arrogant and maybe even thought that she was more of a
woman than Sarah. After all, she was able to give Abraham something that Sarah
could not, and she made sure to rub this in Sarah’s face – if not through
words, but attitude.
Sarah
became upset with the attitude of her maidservant and blamed Abraham for the
situation even though she was the one who suggested it. Abraham, for the sake
of peace, gave his consent for Sarah to do as she wished with Hagar. Therefore,
Sarah was cruel to Hagar, which caused Hagar to flee from her mistress’
presence. The Lord saw what had taken place and sent an angel to give Hagar
directions to return to Sarah. The Bible says, “Then
the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” The
angel added, “I will so increase your descendants that they will be too
numerous to count.” The angel of the Lord also said to her: “You are now with
child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has
heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be
against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility
toward all his brothers” (Genesis 16:9-12). After the conversation with the angel,
Hagar gave the name, Jehovah El Roi, which means the God who sees,
to the Lord. Jehovah El Roi had seen her
distress and had come to her rescue. She returned to her mistress as the angel
had instructed and gave birth to a son just as the Lord had foretold. The Bible
says, “So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave
the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. Abram was eighty-six years old when
Hagar bore him Ishmael” (Genesis 17:15-16).
Jehovah El Roi is an all-seeing God.
There is nothing that is beyond His view. He sees our thoughts, our hearts, our
actions, and beyond. He knows us better than we know ourselves, for He even saw
us in our mother’s womb. There is absolutely nothing that can be hidden from
Jehovah El Roi for He is God. The Bible says, “Nothing
in creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare
before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13). As
we go further into the study of Jehovah El Roi, we can understand more about the
depths from which He sees, knows, and understands His creation.
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