God promised Abram and Sarai that they would have a child. After several years had passed, Sarai felt that the only way to fulfill the promise God had made was to allow Abram to have a child by her Egyptian handmaid, Hagar. Having a child by one's maid was a common practice during those days. The plan worked and Hagar conceived.
After Hagar conceived, Sarai felt wronged. Sarai was jealous and resentful of Hagar. She treated Hagar harshly, which Abraham allowed. This made Hagar want to flee, which she did - far into the wilderness toward Egypt where she came to a spring of water.
An angel assured Hagar that God knew of her situation and promised that she was to bear a son and was told to call him Ishmael. Hagar then gratefully called God 'EL RO'I, which is translated in Genesis 16:3 as the "God who sees." God knew of the mistreatment of Hagar, deeply and personally caring about her situation.
God sees and cares about all of mankind today. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son..." (John 3:16). He loves and cares about us so much that He gave His Son, who willingly died for us. He wants none to perish, but all to be obedient to Him (2 Peter 3:9). In order to be right with God, and have the hope of heaven, we must be obedient to Him. God loves us, He sees and knows all about us. This fact should comfort and help us to live right before God. We may think of many things, but God thinks about you. You are just as important to God as anyone else who has ever lived.
Most of us, at times, like to keep secrets. We sometimes keep them from our neighbors, our friends, and our family members. I remember as a youngster trying to hide things from my parents, but somehow they usually found out. We often try to hide things from God. We think that He is like us and will not find out the things we do. It disturbs us to know that there is One who knows all about us.
After Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, they hid themselves from the presence of God (Genesis 3:8). They were ashamed and tried to hide from God. After Cain killed his brother Abel, God came and asked him where Abel was. Cain's answer to God's question was, "I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper?" (Genesis 4:9). Cain answered God as if He would never know that he had killed his brother. God did know and asked what Cain had done with Abel. Other examples could be given of those who have tried to hide sin from God. No one can get away with it. But instead of scaring us, this fact should encourage us to make things right with God when we do wrong.
David, in Psalm 139, lets us know that he is grateful God knows and sees, because he knows God does care personally for him. He says in verses 1-2, "O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me. Thou dost know when I sit down and when I rise; Thou does understand my thoughts from afar." God knows my every thought and activity. David says that this knowledge God has is "too wonderful for me" (verse 6).
Then David asks two questions in Psalm 139:7: "Where can I go from Thy Spirit? Or where can I flee from Thy presence?" David understands that wherever he goes, whatever he does, God sees and, "...Thy hand will lead me" (v. 10). As the psalm concludes, David asks God to "Search me, God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful ways in me. And lead me in the way everlasting" (verses 23-24). The person who is truly living for God realizes that God sees, knows and cares deeply about them. This knowledge invites God's searching and asks for God's leading hand.
Even those things which no one knows we do, those sometimes thankless jobs no one seems to notice, God knows. Elders who shepherd the flock have a difficult task. To know that God sees the good work they do helps them to carry on. Deacons, preachers, Bible class teachers, personal workers all may be discouraged and sometimes ready to give up, but God sees and knows the good work they do. God sees those who work where others may not. Those who show compassion, sympathy and encouragement very rarely receive due recognition for what they do. It is encouraging to know that even when others may not see, God does.
The writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 4:13, "And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." For those who have an earnest desire to live right this is a comforting statement. Those who live godly are grateful for God's all-seeing eye. They eagerly wait for God's leading hand. For those who persist in evil, however, it is different. Remember, Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:10, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad."
May we never fail to see God as "EL RO'I, the God who sees.
- Christianity Magazine, Nov. 1993