Genesis 16:13 “So she named the Lord who spoke to her, ‘You are El-roi'; for she said, ‘Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?” This episode reflects on the name El Roi, meaning “the God who sees me,” from Hagar’s encounter with the angel of the Lord in Genesis 16. Even though Hagar was a slave, mistreated, and alone in the wilderness, God saw her suffering and spoke to her, reminding us that no one is invisible to Him. The message emphasizes that God sees us in every situation—our struggles, injustices, fears, and growth—and loves us exactly as we are. Just as He saw Hagar and later rescued Paul and Silas from prison, God sees our hardships and cares deeply about what we are going through. The episode encourages listeners to trust that God has not abandoned them and that His love reaches us even in our most broken places. Music: "Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
He Is Series Day #3 El Roi (The God Who Sees Me)
Genesis 16:13 “So she named the Lord who spoke to her, ‘You are El-roi'; for she said, ‘Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?”
Today, we are talking about El Roi, the God who sees me. This verse is part of a longer conversation that an angel of the Lord had with Hagar. Let me briefly fill you in on the story of Hagar. The Lord promised Abram and Sarai that they would have a child. Actually, He promised that Abram would be the father of nations and his descendants would outnumber the stars in the sky. Yet Abram and Sarai had no children, and they were both well past the typical baby-making years. It had been over 10 years since God promised that they would have a child. Sarai got tired of waiting for God, and so she convinced Abram to take her Egyptian slave girl as his wife. He went into her, and she conceived a son. Sarai thought once she had a child, she would be happy. However, after the slave girl became pregnant with Abram’s child, she looked with contempt at her mistress. She got mad and dealt harshly with Hagar, and so Hagar ran away. This is where the conversation happens.
Genesis 16:12-13 “The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, slave-girl of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.” The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her.” The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will so greatly multiply your offspring that they cannot be counted for multitude.” And the angel of the Lord said to her, “Now you have conceived and shall bear a son; you shall call him Ishmael, for the Lord has given heed to your affliction. He shall be a wild ass of a man, with his hand against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him; and he shall live at odds with all his kin.” So she named the Lord who spoke to her, “You are El-roi”; for she said, “Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?”
What I want to focus on today is that God sees you. Some of us really need to hear that today. God sees you in whatever situation you are in. God saw Hagar. She was not one of the chosen people. She was a slave girl from Egypt. She was asked to marry her mistress’s husband and to have a baby for them. She was doing as she was told, and yet afterwards she was acting as if she was better than her mistress, and so her mistress was treating her badly. I can imagine how unfair that felt to Hagar. She did as she was told, and now she was being unfairly treated.
Has this ever happened to you? You followed directions, you did what your boss wanted you to do, and then it didn’t turn out the way he or she wanted, and now he or she is mad at you? Did you ever feel like God was calling you to do something, and you obeyed, and then it felt like you were being punished for it? I wonder if Paul and Silas felt like this when they were captured, beaten, and thrown in jail for proclaiming the Word of the Lord? They were doing what God called them to do, and yet they were still put in jail.
God sent an angel to talk with Hagar and to let her know that God sees her. He sees her and her situation. God let her know that he would greatly multiply her offspring. She could not believe that God not only saw her but also cared enough to send an angel to interact with her, and that she would live through the encounter. God saw her in this mess. God sees you in your mess, too. He sees you in an impossible relationship. He sees you trying to do whatever you can to pay your bills, even though you have no money. He sees you trying to parent your children even though you are overwhelmed. He sees you in your illness, desperately praying for a healing. God sees you!
Let’s go back to the example I gave of Paul and Silas being beaten and thrown in jail even though they were doing what God called them to do. God saw them in jail. He saw them in their situation, and he created an earthquake that shook the building so much that all the prison doors opened. Paul and Silas were free. What situation do you need God to come and free you from? Whatever the situation is, God sees you!
If you are struggling right now. If you feel abandoned by God and wonder if he even sees you, or hears your prayers, know that He does!! He sees you right where you are, and He loves you! He loves you just as you are right now. He doesn’t need you to change first. He doesn’t need you to be different before He loves you. He loves you truly and completely just as you are now. He isn’t waiting for you to be healed to love you. He isn’t waiting for you to be anger-free to love you. He isn’t waiting for you to be free of all your addictions for Him to love you. He loves you, just for being you, the real you.
God sees the real you. Not the you that you pretend to be. Not the you that looks perfect in all your photos. Not the you that you want everyone else to see. He sees the real you. He sees all the places where you are pretending. He sees all the broken places. He sees all the hurt and betrayal you have gone through. He sees things about us that we can’t even see. The other thing that God sees is how much we have grown. He sees how much we have changed. He sees all the progress we have made. Often, we don’t notice it. We are hard on ourselves. We only see the negative. God sees it all. He sees the good, the bad, and the ugly, and He loves us anyway!
Dear El Roi, I ask you to bless everyone who is listening to this episode today. Lord, thank you for seeing us. Help us to see ourselves the way you see us. Help us to see the beautiful things about us that you see. Help us to know in our hearts that you have not abandoned us, that you do see us! Help us to believe that there is nowhere we can go, and nothing we can do that will prevent you from seeing us. We love you, Lord, and we ask this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! God is on your side, and we are both rooting for you! Have a blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in September 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “You have been set aside to act upon my will. I have set you apart. Believe it.”