S5 Episode #5- Jes Biondo
Wrapping up 2022 with Jes!
This week we bring you a very special New Year episode! I’m flying solo this week as we dive into the story of Abraham, Sarah, Hagar and El Roi- The God Who Sees. This is a very special message that God has laid on my heart for those who feel or have ever felt overlooked, forgotten, or invisible. I pray that this episode will start to bring healing for past wounds and hope for the year to come!
Thank you for all of your support over the past year; we could not do this without you!
Happy New Year!
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As we look ahead towards another new year, I want to share a message that God has laid on my heart for those who feel or have ever felt overlooked, forgotten, or invisible. I want to talk about El Roi– The God Who Sees.
The only occurrence of this name of God is in the story of Hagar in Genesis 16. Hagar is fleeing from Abraham and Sarah’s house, she is pregnant with Abraham’s baby and finds herself alone in the wilderness. However, before we get into Hagar’s story, we need a little bit of background about the context of this story and our cast of characters– What lessons can we learn from God’s unique interactions with each character in the story?
ABRAHAMIC COVENANT
Let’s start with The Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 12. In this chapter, God reveals himself to a man named Abram (whose name would later be changed to Abraham) and God promises Abraham land, seed and blessing. God was promising at this moment to make Abraham’s descendants into a great nation. God is beginning to unfold His plan of redemption for humanity, for through Abraham’s descendants– the Israelites– Jesus would one day come! God promised to make Abraham into a great nation… The only problem was that Abraham and his wife, Sarai (later Sarah), did not have any children. God reinforces the promise in Chapter 15, but again, Abraham has still not been able to have a child. Years have passed– Biblical historians believe around 20 years at this point– and there is still no progress toward Abraham becoming a “great nation”.
How relatable does this feel right now? As we stare down a new year, are there things in your life that you believe God made very clear to you, and yet another full year has passed without any tangible sign of movement?
As the story continues, we see that Abraham has grown weary of waiting on God and he and Sarah decide to take matters into his own hands. At the prompting of Sarah, Abraham sleeps with Sarah’s servant, Hagar. Hagar becomes pregnant.
Sidenote: If you think God is giving you a solution, make sure it lines up with His Word before you move forward. This could save you a lot of stress and potential heartache.
ABRAHAM
I love that the Bible never covers up the shortcomings of the heroes of our faith. They were imperfect people who often made life altering mistakes, and yet God was still ALWAYS faithful to fulfill His promises, and God is gracious enough to still allow us to be a part of His grand story, even when He knows that we will often fall short.
The Daily Walk Bible shares 2 very insightful lessons that we can learn from this portion in Abraham’s life about the dangers of running ahead of God’s plan:
1. Abraham’s perception of God was too small, when in reality, nothing is impossible for God! (Luke 1:37)
2. Abraham’s patience was too short. He was in a hurry and decided to take matters into his own hands and manipulate the situation to bring about the desired outcome. He tried to fulfill the promise on his own, but it was truly a promise that only God could fulfill.
Despite Abraham’s moment of unbelief, he is still described in Romans 4:22 as a righteous man of faith. What a blessing it is to know that we are not discounted by God when we make mistakes. He is still living and active and doesn’t judge us based on one moment of weakness and doubt. Praise!
SARAH
When Hagar announced that she was pregnant, I can only imagine how that news must have felt like a punch in the gut for Sarah– I’m sure we all have an area of our lives where we have been striving and praying and waiting for God to move and yet we’ve gotten nothing but silence… When all around us we see people moving forward in that one area that we long for. I wonder if Sarah felt broken and alone just like Hagar did later in the story. I wonder how many tears Sarah shed when she heard the news and if she questioned God’s faithfulness and provision?
Later in the story we know that God reveals to Hagar that He sees her, but I have to believe that Sarah was longing to feel seen in this moment, but the Bible doesn’t give us any indication that Sarah received a fresh Word from God at this point. Instead, Sarah had to rely on the past promises of God to Abraham. The passage of 20 years didn’t weaken the truth behind the covenant Words that God had spoken. I think this time in Sarah’s life reminds us that sometimes it feels like God is silent, but the reality for Sarah and the reality for us is that God is continually working for His glory and for our good. His promises will not come back void. He is faithful to fulfill everything that he promised– sometimes it is just not in the timing that we desire.
One final thought that I found interesting about Sarah in this story is that she is the only one who did not receive a direct Word from God. God repeatedly was speaking to Abraham and reaffirming the covenant, and the angel of The Lord came to Hagar in the wilderness, but Sarah doesn’t have any recorded Word from The Lord. Through this lens, I had great compassion for Sarah and her actions. I imagine that with each day that passed without a pregnancy, she began to believe that lie that she was the problem, that she was some sort of inconvenience or barricade to God’s plan. Maybe she thought she was being selfless by stepping aside so that God could accomplish His plan through another woman– that the promise wasn’t really for her, since something was “obviously” wrong with her. This is all complete speculation, but if any of this is even slightly true, then Sarah’s doubts and actions are rooted in an identity problem. She did not fully believe that she was worthy of God’s promises, or she did not believe that God’s goodness could reach her. She was not walking in the confidence of her rightful place in the Kingdom of God. Are you doing this in any area of your life right now? Trying to defer your promise to someone else because you don’t feel worthy of all the blessings that God is waiting to pour out on you?
HAGAR MEETS EL ROI
Now let’s zoom back in on Hagar… She runs away from Abraham and Sarah to escape continued mistreatment from Sarah. The Bible tells us that after she found out she was pregnant, Hagar “began to treat Sarah with contempt”. Sarah in return “treated Hagar so harshly that she [Hagar] ran away” (v. 6). Hagar has been mistreated, abused and used by her employers.
In Verse 7, Hagar is on the road to Shur. Shur was on the way from Canaan to Egypt, so we see that Hagar is returning to her homeland. Many commentaries that I read explain that Hagar is running from her duties and that fleeing would have been an act of disobedience, but in His mercy, God stopped her from going further astray. The beauty of God meeting Hagar along the road to Shur is that God is continuing to pursue her in the middle of her rebellion, rejection and pain. He never stops pursuing us– no matter what we’ve done or what we are currently doing!
Verse 13 says, “Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the LORD who had spoken to her. She said, ‘You are the God who sees me’.” The Hebrew word for “The God Who Sees” is El Roi. In saying this, Hagar recognized that God saw her and met her on the road to Shur, but also that God saw everything in her life that led up to that moment. God was not a far-off, distant, sleeping God. He saw her when she was being used and mistreated. He was her tears, He saw her run, He saw the depths of pain in her heart. He also sees you– in every moment of your life, past, present and future.
For some people listening, this truth might not bring comfort because you have one of two reactions. Reaction #1– your initial thought is, “Ok, God, if you saw it all, how could you let it happen? How could you allow the abuse, the suffering, the… fill in the blank for your situation.” If this is your reaction, then please know that God’s heart broke with you and that His ultimate plan is for your good and your healing. In the end He will vindicate you. I’m so so sorry, dear listener, for what happened to you, and I believe with all my heart that God sees the full picture of your life and not a single moment of your pain will be wasted. He will use it all for your good and the glory of His Kingdom.
We see that God instructs Hagar to go back to the place of her pain and deal with the situation head on. God does not belittle her pain or her situation, rather he shows her how it will become her platform as He promises her that her son’s descendants would become a great nation.
Reactions #2 might be a gut reaction to lean into shame– that if God truly did see your darkest moments, then He would never love you because He would know the depths of your depravity. This is a lie from the devil. He loves nothing more than to make us question our rightful place as sons and daughters of the King. What Jesus did on the cross was enough to cover anything you have done or could ever possibly do. God has seen every dark moment of sin in your life before time even began and he still loved you enough to send His Son to redeem your brokenness. Instead of leaning into shame in the New Year, choose to lean into El Roi who saw it all and loves you more than you can even imagine. He is FOR YOU, no matter what you’ve done or will do.
THE GOD WHO SEES AND IS SEEN
The other thing I love about this name of God is that it reminds us that while God sees us, He always allows himself to be seen by us. He reveals himself to us through His Word and His Holy Spirit. The mighty Creator of the Universe makes himself known to us! That blows my mind!
Right now in this broken world we only see in part, but one day we will see His full glory and understand the full picture when we spend eternity with Him! Praise His Name!!
Here is a way that we can pray to God as El Roi:
El Roi,
You see me. You have permitted everything in my life and it all can be used for your good. Because of this, I can always trust you with the circumstances in my life. You see me, you guide me, and I don’t have to fear anything. You are also the One who Sees the big picture. You see what I can’t, you see how it will all fit together and how all will be used for Your glory and purpose. I release everything into your faithful, sovereign hands. Thank you for always seeing me. I am never alone and nothing is beyond your control. Amen.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
The Daily Walk Bible commentary on this passage said, “Many people have turned and left the dock just before the ship came in.” As we head into a New Year, I want to leave you with that thought. If you are growing weary of waiting on the thing that you’ve been praying about for what feels like a lifetime, don’t leave the dock yet. My prayer for you is that this is the year that your ship comes in and you experience a breakthrough beyond anything you could have accomplished on your own. I pray that even while you wait, you feel seen by El Roi– the God who sees your deepest longings and greatest sorrows. He is with you, even now. Hold fast to Him and be confident that He will be faithful to fulfill His promises in His time.
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We are taking a little break for the holidays, videos will resume in January! :)
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The Collected Podcast is produced by Jes Biondo and edited by Jacob Early. Cover art designed by Ben Biondo.