Walk Of Life – Day 30, December 2021 – Titles of our Lord
El Roi
El Roy (Hebrew: אל ראי) is one of the names of God in the Hebrew Bible. It is commonly translated as “the God who sees me” and is both a descriptive epithet for God using the word “El” (God) and a modifier indicating a quality of God. It was first mentioned in the Book of Genesis (Genesis 16:13), by Hagar, mother of Abraham’s eldest son, Ishmael (Wikipedia).
We may have noticed that many names for God include “El.” El typically refers to God. But Roi brings another attribute of our Lord to the equation. El Roi means “The God who sees me.”
Ro’iy in the original Hebrew can be translated as shepherd, or as seeing, looking, or gazing.
In other words, when we feel most invisible and forgotten by everyone else, we can remember that God does see us. He witnesses our struggles and comes alongside us. After all, if he sees the sparrows and takes care of them (Matthew 6:26), how much more does he care for us in our greatest time of need?
Of course, we could pinpoint numerous examples of God seeing those who society chose not to see. He healed lepers, blind men, and the demon-possessed. He had a conversation with an outcast Samaritan woman at the well. It seems, throughout all of Scripture, that God chooses to see the unseen.
I have the habit of writing prayers and when I flip back the pages how many prayers He has answered. There are many circumstances down the line where He has seen my circumstances and has made me to walk over through these ways. In the moment, we may feel as though God has abandoned us. In the midst of a storm, it seems as though God has fallen asleep when the boat’s about to capsize (Mark 4:35-41).
But when we glance back over past events and see how God came through for us—perhaps not always in ways that we imagined—we can apply that to our present circumstances. We can know that God “saw” us in the past. And because He doesn’t change, he will “see” us now…and in the future.
The Bible states that God knows even the hairs on our heads. Out of the billions of people in the world, he understands more about us than we do (Matthew 10:30). We can often take small blessings for granted. The fact that we’re breathing, our organs are functioning properly, and most of us had food to eat today and water to drink…are all blessings. We can see God’s daily blessings if we truly choose to look. All through out this year our Lord’s eyes was constantly fixed on us. When we did not know what to do, our Lord fixed His eyes upon us and counseled us as we read in Psalm 32:8.
In the midst of her despair Hagar suddenly heard a voice calling: “Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying. Lift him up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” Then God opened Hagar’s eyes and she saw the thing she dreamed of—a well full of water.
My dear brother or sister, always remember our Lord watches over you and you are very special.
