The name of the LORD is a strong tower, the righteous runs into is and is safe. Proverbs 18:10
I love that the subject of this verse (righteous) is singular. It is not a blanket statement for all believers. It is specific. Each one of us can run into the name of the Lord and be safe. These names of God are very personal to each of us.
Today's name is El Roi: You are the God Who Sees. This comes from Genesis 16. When Hagar runs to the desert after conceiving a son with Abram. Let's back up.
God has promised Abram that he will be a great nation, he will have as many descendants as there are stars. God made a covenant with Abram. His descendants would be given the Promised Land. Grand story, except Abram has no children, and he is old. Fast forward 10 years and his wife Sarai has just about had it, when would they have a child? She will fix this.
You know the story, Sarai figures if she can't have a baby her servant Hagar will do. She'll give her to Abram as another wife, she'll conceive and then they can move on with their lives with this child. Well, her plan worked...or at least what she had planned happened.
I have always felt bad for Hagar. She was wronged, this was not exactly the love story she had desired. She understandable is mad at Sarai. So then Sarai treated her harshly. Hagar had to run away, head back home. This is only part of the story though I think. I looked a little closer and asked God what this all meant.
While Hagar is in the desert, an angel of the Lord found her. In Genesis 16:8 he says, "Hagar, Sarai's maid, where have you come from and where are you going?" He knows exactly where she had been and where she was going. He wanted her to see it for herself. I wonder if He wanted her to see that she was leaving the God of Abram to return to homeland of Egypt full of idols. He also addresses her as Sarai's maid. Surely she had other identities, but this is important.
Hagar had run away. But maybe not just out of grief and fear. Maybe also out of pride She didn't think she needed to submit any longer to someone so horrible as Sarai. The angel gives her instructions, which reveal her heart. He says, "Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority". What I believe the angel was saying was, go back to where you belong. She was under the authority of Sarai. And she needed to humble herself and return.
Either way or both ways. She was alone in the wilderness, without hope, without a future, without family. And then the angel of the Lord found her. He saw her. The angel then gives her a promise about her future. After this encounter Hagar calls the name of the Lord, who spoke to her, "You are a God who sees", El Roi.
When Daniel was 6 days old we were sent to the emergency room from a routine well baby check up. We were told he had meningitis. It would take 3 days to find out if it was viral or bacterial. If he would live or possibly die. I didn't sleep much those three days. Pastor Jim came to the hospital and read Psalm 121 to us. One line in particular stood out, from verse 3, "...He who keeps you will not slumber." I remember being so tired that I couldn't keep my eyes open. While I slept in that fold out chair next to Daniel with all kinds of wires attached, God would not sleep. God would see him and care for him. I will always remember that comfort and hope I had knowing God was watching over him.
Are you running away? From a circumstance, a struggle. Maybe you are literally running away, you are avoiding an uncomfortable situation. God sees, you are important. He wants you to head in the right direction. Do you need comfort? He sees. Do you need peace? He sees. Do you need strength? He sees. Do you need forgiveness? He sees. Notice the theme here? Our God is a loving Father. If He sees, then we know He will respond. Trust and obey.
The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the name of the Lord is The God Who Sees, you are safe.
Song: "From the Day" by I am They
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