El Roi – The God Who Sees

By Cheryl Luke, National Director of Cultural Communities

“So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife.”

Genesis 16:3 (ESV)

Hagar was a woman with no voice. An Egyptian captive, pregnant with another woman’s child. Powerless to control her environment, and rather than submitting to Sarai, she chose to run away to escape her mistreatment. While wandering in the desert, in utter distress, Hagar had an unexpected encounter with God that would alter her thinking and change the trajectory of her life.

“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 NIV).

The Lord saw her! A writer for Christianity.com notes, “God saw Hagar in her faults, [in that] she despised Sarah.” “God saw her frustrations.” He knew she was powerless and abused, and “he saw her fear.” He found her wandering, alone, in the wilderness, with nowhere to go.

To say Hagar felt lonely, afraid, and unsure about her future is an understatement. Can you relate? Maybe not to her situation, but to her emotional state! Fear, resentment, overwhelmed, and alone. How often in our recovery journey do we encounter these types of emotions?

El Roi, The One Who Sees, is acutely aware of our lives. He is the One who numbers the hairs on our heads and knows our past, present, and future circumstances.

Principle 8: Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ’s care and control.

“Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love” (Psalm 33:18 ESV).

Remember, when we pray to El Roi, we pray to the one who knows everything about us.

_______________________________________________

If you would like to learn how to start your own Celebrate Recovery ministry, to contact your Celebrate Recovery Rep, please visit: https://crgroups.info/. To get involved in an already existing Celebrate Recovery ministry near you, please visit: https://locator.crgroups.info/.