El Roi – A God Who Sees Me

What does El Roi mean? Let’s take a deep dive into what it is and why it matters to us personally today.

As I’ve been studying the names of God, the name that sticks out to me most is El Roi which means the God who sees me. If we look at El Roi in the Bible to see where it came from, we find it comes from the story of Hagar.

Cat Fights aren’t for Sissys

If you aren’t familiar with it or want a refresher, the story of Hagar is a powerful one. She was alone, desperate, and running for her life and the life of her child to get away from an abuser. Her abuser was Sarai, Abraham’s wife. You see Sarai didn’t want to trust that God would bring them children, she got impatient and took matters into her own hands. She did what no wife would want to do, told her husband to sleep with her handmaiden, Hagar. Granted, it was a customary practice to have servants sleep with their master’s husband to have children for the wife to continue the family legacy.

I don’t know about you, but sleeping with an 86-year-old man does not seem very appealing let alone being forced to sleep with anyone… I imagine Hagar was younger and capable or she wouldn’t be Sarai’s handmaiden helping her out with things around her house. So here Hagar is– I’m sure not jumping for joy– that she’s being forced to sleep with her boss’s wife and then she gets pregnant from that one time.

Upside-down Pineapple Cake?

To add icing to the upside-down pineapple cake, Sarai who forced Hagar to sleep with her husband, gets extremely jealous that Hagar is now pregnant but what did she expect? Sarai wanted so badly to get pregnant and have kids so if another woman easily gets pregnant by the same man, that’s going to be frustrating…

Sarai complains to her husband about how Hagar is flaunting being pregnant with his son so he does what any man would do in that sticky situation, he goes along to get along with his infertile and very angry wife. So poor Hagar starts getting treated very harshly so much so that she runs away. Sarai was obviously not wise about the whole situation. It’s pretty messed up to force your servant/helper to sleep with your husband so she can get pregnant and have his baby, then get angry when she does what you asked and gets pregnant…

Now the consequences of Sarai and Abraham’s decision to take matters into their own hands instead of trusting God, affect us all today. Just look at the conflict in the Middle East. We can definitely learn a lesson and not take a play from their handbook but that’s for another time.

Back to the story, Hagar is understandably fleeing for her and her son’s life because Sarai is so awful to her. While she’s running, “the Angel of the Lord” appears to her and asks where she’s come from and where she’s going. What’s interesting is that He knows who she is already by addressing her by name. This is the first appearance of any angel to a human being in the Bible and it’s to a servant girl who has been abused.

Where El Roi is in the Bible

Here’s the exact passage so you can check it out for yourself and follow along…

Genesis 16 AMP – Sarai and Hagar – Now Sarai, Abram’s – Bible Gateway

6 “So Sarai treated her harshly and humiliated her, and Hagar fled from her.

7 But [b]the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, on the road to [Egypt by way of] Shur. 8 And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where did you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.” 9 The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Go back to your mistress, and submit [c]humbly to her authority.” 10 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.” 11 The Angel of the Lord continued,

“Behold, you are with child,

And you will bear a son;

And you shall name him Ishmael (God hears),

Because the Lord has heard and paid attention to your persecution (suffering).

12 “He (Ishmael) will be a wild donkey of a man;

His hand will be against every man [continually fighting]

And every man’s hand against him;

And he will dwell in defiance of all his brothers.”

13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are [d]God Who Sees”; for she said, “Have I not even here [in the wilderness] remained alive after [e]seeing Him [who sees me with understanding and compassion]?” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi (Well of the Living One Who Sees Me); it is [f]between Kadesh and Bered.

I recently discovered that there is a theory that the Angel of the Lord mentioned here was actually Jesus. In the footnote for “the Angel” from the passage above, it explains that Many Bible scholars believe that this Angel may be a theophany, that is, a physical manifestation of God, in which case the word Angel is capitalized. The Angel of the Lord MAY, based on context, be the pre-incarnate Christ, the Son of God.

3 Things We Need to Know about El Roi

We can learn 3 things from Hagar’s encounter with the Angel of the Lord.

1. He sees her and knows exactly who she is, addressing her by name.

We find that God knows who we are and what affliction we’re going through no matter how much we try to hide or run away from His presence. He also accepts us exactly as we are with unconditional love also known as agape love. He sees what we are going through and has compassion. We aren’t invisible and we are most certainly loved at our worst and most vulnerable moments.

2. He asks her where she came from and where she is going. 

God is all-knowing because He already knows our past and our future. Taking the time to not only meet with her personally face to face and then to ask her these two questions shows He cares about our struggles.

3. The Angel tells her she needs to go back and submit to the authority of Sarai.

Sometimes the pain of facing reality and powering through it is difficult to do. It’s hard to embrace the pain and tackle our problems head-on, it’s easier to hide out. But God helps us to do difficult things. He loves us too much to let us hide and suffer alone.

In Philippians 4:13 we know that God gives us the strength to do all things. We won’t be alone but we do have to acknowledge the hard and remember that God has a divine plan that can eventually bring about good and take back what the enemy stole from us.

What stood out to me most after reading this passage and tugs on my heartstrings is when Hagar acknowledges and spoke to The Angel. She said in astonishment and reverence, realizing possibly that it wasn’t just an angel but God Himself, “El Roi” in Hebrew which means “You are God Who Sees”. He saw her in her distress and made it known He has heard her affliction. He saw and heard her. That. is. powerful.

Sometimes we need to BREAK EYE CONTACT with our problem and LOCK ONTO GOD.

How many times have we pushed God away? Or how many times have we been so focused on our problem that it’s overwhelming and hard to bear, Yet He still sees and hears us and speaks to our future. Sometimes we need to break eye contact with our problem and lock onto God instead.

A while back we talked about Elijah and the story about how God spoke to Him by His Spirit. God said to go stand on the mountain because His Spirit was passing by. There was a powerful wind blowing through, breaking rocks in pieces but it wasn’t the Lord. Then there was an earthquake but it wasn’t the Lord. Then there was a fire but the Lord wasn’t in it. Then there was the sound of a gentle blowing and it was the Spirit of the Lord. It makes me wonder if Earth, Wind, & Fire named their band after this passage but I doubt it!

The point here is that the Spirit of God is a gentleman and won’t force His will on us. He isn’t a powerful wind crushing things in its path. He also isn’t a major earthquake or fire in how He deals with us. He has a gentle voice that we will miss if we aren’t LOCKED ONTO GOD. This ties perfectly in to what we’re discussing and is a powerful reminder that Yahweh sees us and has compassion on our situation. He is the ONLY WAY we will make it through.

I’m so thankful to serve a Father who loves us so much to not only see us and have compassion for our situation but gives us the strength to make it through. Remember El Roi is the God who sees us and will see you through.

A Prayer For You

Lord, thank You for being a God who not only sees us but You know us and see our pain. Forgive me for the times I’ve ignored and run away from You. Please help me to do Your will and focus on You instead of my problems. I trust You will see me through any and all trials I will face now and in the future. Help me to be a light pointing others to You in their darkest moments so they know they are truly seen and fully accepted for who they are. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Stay hopeful!