Name of God - El Roi: The God Who Sees Me
El Roi: The God Who Sees Me
Daily Verse: “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
Let's Talk About It: This verse is spoken by Hagar. She was the slave of Sarah and we see through her story, the consequences of trying to move God’s hand. His will happens in His timing, and we can do nothing to move His hand unless He moves it Himself.
We see the use of the Hebrew word El again, which means God, but we also see the use of a word we haven’t studied before, roi. “Roi (roh-yee)” which means who sees me is only used in two instances in the Old Testament, in this passage and in Genesis 16:14 where Hagar names a well after the God who sees her.
Let’s face it, as women, we sometimes feel as though what we do is overlooked by the people around us. If anyone has spent any time caring for their husbands and children, they understand that many don’t recognize the amount of time it takes to do the grocery shopping, making the list, coming up with the menu. Then, we still must come home, unload it all, put it up, and prep the food to prepare it. Once all of this is done, only then can we make dinner (or any other meal or snack). And while there isn’t a ton of hard, physical, manual labor involved, it does take time.
Laundry is another chore that seemingly looks like it shouldn’t take much time but does. First, we must sort the clothes, then wash, dry, and fold, and that process become more labor intensive if we must wash clothes by hand or dry them on a line that is outdoors. It can be an all-day affair depending on how much laundry there is to do. And don’t even get me started on baby clothes. Those loads take the longest to fold because you can fit so many onesies in a washer, it’s more than should be physically (and I mean in the sense of physics here) possible.
Cleaning the house takes an incredible amount of effort as well. All it takes is a short search of “#cleaninghacks” to see the countless ways women have tried to figure out how to save themselves time, money, and energy on the activity that is done seemingly as often as breathing. It is in these monotonous chores that are executed day-in and day-out that sometimes leave us feeling overlooked and undervalued.
However, nothing could be further from the truth! God sees us. He knows how much effort we are putting forth, and He is proud of our willingness to go above and beyond for our families. Likewise, He sees the working mom who wishes she could only have to worry about these things but must juggle them all while working full time. He also sees the single mom who shuffles between all the above with little to no help from anyone else. No matter what kind of mom you are, you are seen. And He sees you too…ladies who dream of being moms and can’t get pregnant.
No one is ignored by El Roi, the God who sees. We are all seen, and even more than seen, we are known, and even more than known, we are loved. I don’t know who needs to hear this today, but God sees all the time and effort and dedication you are putting forth on behalf of your family and/or career. He sees every sacrifice, and He catches every tear. You are not forgotten. You are treasured. Remember, friend, Jesus loves you, and so do I! – Crystal