Thursday, November 24, 2016

The God Who Sees Me

The God Who Sees Me


God promised Abram many descendants; but his wife Sarai could not have children. Instead of waiting for God to fulfill His promise within the bounds of her marriage, Sarai took matters into her own hands – she told her husband to have a child with her female servant Hagar (Genesis 16). The Bible doesn’t tell us what Hagar thought or how she felt about these developments. She was a slave; she had no option but to do what she was told. Was she disgusted, angry or scared at the thought of being forced to have a child with her master’s husband? Could she have been honored, hopeful or brave when she was told about the arrangement to marry and bring forth a child with the patriarch of God’s chosen people? We just don’t know.

But what we do know is that once she conceived a child with Abram, she became proud and despised her master Sarai. Then Sarai, empowered by Abram to do so, treated Hagar cruelly in response to her attitude. Trapped in this horrible situation, Hagar fled.

Slavery, impatience, anger, pride, jealousy, retaliation, hate…, our sinful actions and reactions result in human suffering. Hagar was in a no-win situation and ran away from it. She was pregnant, homeless, with no means of support; she had no hope.

But God, our loving Heavenly Father was watching. He came to Hagar and told her to return and submit. God revealed to Hagar that her descendants would multiply exceedingly through her yet unborn son Ishmael. In her darkest hour, feeling desperate and alone, Hagar encountered and was encouraged by ‘The God Who Sees Me’.
  • Genesis 16:13-14 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
    • Beer Lahai Roi – ‘the well of the Living One who sees me’


Regardless of Our Situation
Regardless of Our Past
Regardless of Our Hurts


God Sees Us
  • Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Keeping watch on the evil and the good.

God Knows Us
  • Psalm 139:1-3 O Lord, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. 3 You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways.

God Thinks About Us
  • Psalm 139:17-18 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.

God Has Plans for Us
  • Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.


When We are Broken
When We are Humble
When We Turn to Him


God Hears Us
  • Psalm 22:24 For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden His face from Him; But when He cried to Him, He heard.

God Forgives Us
  • Lamentation 3:22-23 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

God Blesses Us
  • Psalm 145:9 The Lord is good to all, And His tender mercies are over all His works.

God Saves Us
  • Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

The God of Heaven sees you!
Jehovah loves you! 
His desire is to be in a right relationship with you!


So, whether you:
  • Already know Him as Lord but have sinned against Him
  • Have turned your back on the One you trusted
  • Have never surrendered your life to Him
  • Have denied that He exist
  • Are confused and not sure where to turn


Humble Yourself Before God
  • 1 Peter 5:6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,

Confess Your Sins To Him
  • 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Accept what Christ Has Done For You
  • Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Surrender Your Life to Jesus Christ
  • Romans 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Begin Your New Life
  • 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Embrace Who You Are In Christ
  • John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:


Prayer

Dear Lord: You are the God Who sees me. You are the God Who loves me. You are the God Who died for my sins. Help me to remember that, as a loving and faithful God, Your eyes are always on me. You keep watch over me and all Your creation. May the attention and care You show for me and to me inspire me to honor You in all that I do. Turn many hearts to Yourself Dear Lord. I pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ my Savior. Amen.