Looking At The Overlooked – Tuesday

Week 2 | Jesus Gets Us

Listen instead of reading

Take a Moment

Ask God what He wants to show you before reading today

Read The Daily

Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me.” She also said, “Have I truly seen the One who sees me?” (Genesis 16:13)

Let me be a Bible nerd for just a second.  God has many different names in the Old Testament.  One of those names for God is El Roi (literally pronounced Elroy for all the Hillbillies lol). El Roi  means the God Who Sees. The first time we read this name is in Genesis 16 when Hagar, the Egyptian servant of Sarah and Abraham, found herself pregnant, alone, and on the run. Hagar was at the center of biblical history when Sarah offered her to Abraham in order to bear him children. Sarah was barren and this was her attempt to help God fulfill his covenant to make Abraham the father of many nations.

But Sarah’s plan didn’t go as she intended. When Hagar got pregnant with Abraham’s child, rivalry and jealousy grew between the two women. In her pain, Sarah dealt harshly with Hagar, likely criticizing her with hurtful and abusive language. Hagar fled from her mistress and started on a journey home to Egypt.  But something remarkable happened by a spring on the edge of a wilderness that changed the trajectory of Hagar’s life. God found her and spoke to her.

“Hagar…”

God blessed her, told her the gender of her baby, gave him a name, and spoke prophetically over Ishmael’s life. God didn’t just see a servant running from abuse, he saw her heart.

It isn’t just that God sees, but that God saw her. Through Hagar, God showed that he doesn’t just see and love the key players or the ones that everyone else knows and loves.  He sees and loves the overlooked, too. God never changes, he’s still El Roi right now, in this very moment. He’s still capturing the attention of hearts, He’s still pursuing the overlooked. He’s still seeing the suffering. He’s still calling names. Feeling overlooked?  God always looks for the overlooked. 

Prayer for the Day

God what are you  showing me?  What am I going to do about it? 

God help me to see one person that I can serve through a kind word, random act of kindness, or simple gift today?

Make sure you complete the reading or comment today.

Read The New Testament In A Year

4 x 6 Plan | Read: Matthew 10:1-15 & Romans 7:7-25