God is… The God Who Sees Me

 God “is” “The God Who Sees Me”. “Is” meaning ; “existing in this moment of time“, and “the substance, characteristics, and/or character of a thing”. God “is” a “right now”, “in this moment” God; alive, active and available to us. His “substance”, “characteristics”, and “character” is “The God Who Sees Me”.But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is,…..” Hebrews 11:6

Genesis 16:5-15 (NASB)

5-6 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done me be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight. May the LORD judge between you and me.” But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence.

7-12 Now the angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.” Then the angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority.” Moreover, the angel of the LORD said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.” The angel of the LORD said to her further, “Behold, you are with child, And you will bear a son; And you shall call his name Ishmael, Because the LORD has given heed to your affliction. “He will be a wild donkey of a man, His hand will be against everyone, And everyone’s hand will be against him; And he will live to the east of all his brothers.”

13-15 Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees”; for she said, “Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?” Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.

This is part of the situation where Abraham and Sarah decided they would “help God out” in fulfilling the promise of providing offspring to this childless couple by inserting Hagar into the equation. When Hagar fled from Sarah, she encountered “the angel of the LORD” (which is many times a reference to Jesus Christ) by a well of water in the wilderness. She called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “El Roi”, “God Who Sees”; and she called the place “Beer Lachay Roi”; “well of the living One that sees me,”(New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible).

It appears, from Genesis 16:7, that Hagar had sat down by a fountain or well of water in the wilderness of Shur, at which the Angel of the Lord found her; and, to commemorate the wonderful discovery which God had made of himself, she called the name of the well ‏באר לחי ראי‎ beerlachairoi, “A well to the Living One who seeth me.” (Adam Clarke’s Commentary.)

Whatever situation, wilderness or otherwise, that we find ourselves in, He is “The God Who Sees”. We may look at that and think, “Well, if He ‘sees’, why doesn’t He do something about it?” Maybe, just maybe, He is waiting for us to do what He has told us to do; “trust Him”, “cast our cares upon Him” and “ask”.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:4-7 (NASB)

Our concept of His “isness”; the manner in which we define His nature, substance, characteristics, and character, and the way we “receive” His “isness” into our life and depend on (have faith in) it, will be the role that we “anticipate/expect” or “will allow” God to play in our lives.

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is,…..” God “is” “The God Who Sees Me”.

*** Fred Wilson *** is an  author, former coach, teacher  and Life and Liberty News Contributor.