El- Roi, The God Who Sees Me

2025: We are fully living in the era of social media. We live in a generation where being an influencer is a legitimate career, and some content creators earn more money than medical doctors, in an era where everyone is desperately trying to create that “viral” content. This is the world where there is a constant, desperate cry for attention. And now this cry is so easily transmitted to millions of people in seconds. Have we ever wondered why people are desperate to become famous and popular? In his book, “Fearless”, Max Lucado lists a series of fears that plague humanity and how we can tackle them with God and the first one he mentions is the “fear of not mattering”. The fear of not being relevant in our world and not making a difference in anyone’s life. Ultimately, it’s the fear of not being loved and being completely alone, thus, not mattering.  And there is a person in the Bible who knows that very well.

Her name was Hagar, and she was Sarah's servant and slave. Everything was going well between them until Sarah had the brilliant idea of letting her husband sleep with her so she could give him a child, since she couldn’t. She got pregnant (obviously), but then Hagar started treating Sarah with contempt until Sarah couldn't take it anymore and kicked her out of the house. She's now a fugitive, isolated, with nowhere to run to. Completely alone, she stopped and cried, but God came to her rescue through an angel who told her that she would give birth to a son, and she would name him “Ishmael”, which means “God hears”, for God heard her cry of distress. After this encounter, she went back to Sarah and submitted to her. Hagar was shocked that the God of Abraham cared enough to come and speak to her, an Egyptian slave, rescuing her from her despair. So, she called him El-Roi, “you are the God who sees me”. And He is the God who truly sees us. He sees me. He sees you. I don’t know what you’re going through right now, but I want to encourage you that God sees you. In a world where it sometimes feels like a competition to see who can shout the loudest, who has the best life, and who has achieved the most significant success, we have El–Roi, the God who sees. He sees the pain that we go through. He knows every detail of our lives and still loves us. He knows us more than we even know ourselves and is closer to us than our own breaths. El–Roi, He sees you. Sometimes you might feel like you don’t matter. Sometimes you might feel like in a world of more than 8 billion people, what relevance do you hold? Especially when you're going through trials and tribulations, and you feel isolated like no one understands what you’re going through, you might even feel like there's no point to your existence. But El–Roi says, “I see you and you're worth dying for”. He says, “You are fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). “You are my masterpiece” (Ephesians 2:10), and “you are the apple of my eye” (Zechariah 2:8).

So, for the next time that you feel like you don’t matter, you’re not relevant, and what you do and who you are isn’t making any difference in anybody's life, remember Psalm 139:

13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
    and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
    Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
    as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
16 You saw me before I was born.
    Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
    before a single day had passed.

17 How precious are your thoughts about me,[b] O God.
    They cannot be numbered!
18 I can’t even count them;
    they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
    you are still with me!

So when you’re going to treatment again for whatever sickness you’re going through and the healing hasn’t happened, remember “El-Roi sees me and is in control. He is my healer and He will heal me”. When it’s yet another birthday and you still haven’t met the love of your life and marriage looks like a far away mirage remember “El-Roi sees me and He says that it’s not good for man to be alone so He will provide a companion”. When another African auntie is asking you when you’re going to give birth and you literally spent last night in tears cause you had another miscarriage remember “El-Roi says go and be fruitful and He will provide”

His name is Emmanuel, never leaving us nor forsaking us. He is El- Roi, the God who sees me and the God who sees you. You will always matter to God, no matter what.

Be blessed,

Anna