The God Who Sees
In the movie, “White House Down”, a cabinet member whose son was killed in war, and terrorists have overtaken the White House. The house has been almost completely destroyed, people have been killed, and the President of the United States was thought to be assassinated. The acting president makes the call for an air-strike on the White House. And even though there would be casualties, the takeover would be stopped.
Channing Tatum (Cale) is trying to make a last-ditch effort to rescue the president and stop the strike. He tells his daughter, Emily, to run as fast as she can as far away from the house as she can. Emily knows the air-strike is coming but instead of doing what her father instructed her to do, she grabs the presidential flag, runs to the front lawn, and begins to wave it as hard as she can. Her hope was that the pilot would see her and abort the attack. Her rescue solely depended on being seen.
“You are the God who sees me…”
In Genesis 16, the slave, Hagar, has been mistreated by Abram’s wife, Sarai, all because Hagar did what she was told to do. And as a result, she is pregnant with Abram’s child. Hagar did what she thought was her only choice - she ran away to the desert. But there, in the desert, the Angel of the Lord visited her, and verse 13 says, “She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” …” (The Hebrew, the translation is “El Roi”.)
Hagar, pregnant and not knowing what was going to happen to her, was hopeless and abandoned. She was a slave totally at the mercy of her owner. She must have felt unseen and alone. And, to anyone else, she was. But not to God. El Roi saw her.
Hagar followed the directions spoken to her by the Lord and she returned to Sarai and Abram. She had a son and named him Ishmael. He would not be the promised heir to Abram, but he would be a leader in his own right.
I would think that Hagar would never forget this encounter with God. She saw and spoke with the God who saw her. But in later chapters, we find that Ishmael began to mock Isaac (Abram and Sarah’s son), and Sarah saw it. It was then that this Mama Bear said enough was enough. It was time for Hagar and Ishmael to leave.
Abram gives Hagar food and water and sends them out into the Desert of Beersheba. When the water was gone, Hagar put Ishmael under one of the bushes (vs 15). The boy was crying. Hagar was crying. She couldn’t bear to watch her son die.
But God, the God who saw her before, saw her again. He heard the cries of a little boy, and the angel of God visited her and opened her eyes to see a well of water. She filled the skin with water and gave it to the boy. God was with them just as He promised.
In John 4, we read about a Samaritan woman who had an encounter with Jesus. The Jews avoided Samaria and would go out of their way to bypass it. But why would Jesus go there? Because Jesus saw a woman who needed a Savior. He saw a woman in her shame, in her brokenness and despair. Jesus saw straight through to her heart.
I submit to you today that Jesus sees you. You are not forgotten by the One who knows it all – the One who sees exactly where you are and the state you are in. So don’t lose hope! For if Jesus sees the little sparrow and the lilies of the field, then how much more will He watch over you and care for you.
