see me.

Today’s blog was written by my lovely mother, Victoria Rivera! Read and enjoy!

Hi! I am Victoria and thirty years of ministry have revealed to me the longing in people to be recognized, to be noticed and to be seen. There’s a deep hunger in each and every one of us for acknowledgement.  I can attest that to truly see me is to know me; to truly see me is to understand me; to truly see me is to acknowledge me and to truly see me is to love me. 

Bethel Music in Redding, California wrote a song in 2014 called, “You Don’t Miss a Thing,” and part of the lyrics are:

           ... What a mystery, that You notice me

               And in a crowd of ten thousand You don’t miss a thing

              ‘Cause You see everything 

              And I am seen and I am known

              By the King of kings and Lord of lords

             There’s no place I can go You’re love won’t find me

             No place I could fall Your love couldn’t catch me

             You see it all through the eyes of love ...

Have you ever wondered or asked yourself the following questions? 

   Does anyone notice my pain?

   Does anyone notice my struggle?

   Does anyone understand?

   Does anyone even care?

   CAN ANYONE TRULY SEE ME?

In Genesis 16, a woman named Hagar asked herself these same questions.....

Genesis 16:1-14 (NIV)

1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”

Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.

When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”

6 “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.

7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.

9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”

11 The angel of the Lord also said to her:

“You are now pregnant

    and you will give birth to a son.

You shall name him Ishmael,

    for the Lord has heard of your misery.

12 He will be a wild donkey of a man;

    his hand will be against everyone

    and everyone’s hand against him,

and he will live in hostility

    toward all his brothers.”

13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.

Hagar was a young, Egyptian slave in a foreign land. She had no rights, no freedoms, no choices. She was given in marriage to a much older man and immediately became pregnant. She also found out the secret as to why Abram & Sarai couldn’t conceive. It had nothing to do with Abram, it had everything to do with Sarai, her mistress. 

Things got pretty ugly between Sarai and Hagar. Sarai despised Hagar because she could conceive. Hagar despised Sarai because Sarai caused problems and mistreated her. Hagar had enough and eventually ran away. She then found herself hungry, thirsty, very pregnant, and very alone in a desert. 

Hagar felt lonely, rejected, abandoned, neglected. She was fearful, ashamed, betrayed, and forgotten. I’m sure she thought she was even unloved and unworthy. Many of us feel just like Hagar, but God SAW her and knew her. God also SEES you and knows you.

Genesis 16:7-12 tells us that God found Hagar in that desert. God called Hagar by her name. God knew she was pregnant. God prophesied over her and her child. God named her child “Ishmael,” which means the God who hears. God was watching and listening to her the entire time.

Hagar then replies by acknowledging the one true God. 

Genesis 16:13 says, “She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: You are the God who SEES me, for she said, I have now seen the One who SEES me.” 

This is the only time in Scripture where “El Roi” is used as God’s name. Hagar - this young Egyptian girl, this pregnant girl in a foreign land, this runaway slave - Hagar names God as the God who sees. 

God is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-sufficient. God is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. God saw Hagar, and God SEES you and me. He knows how many hairs are on our head. He knows our struggles. He understands our pain. He sees our heart and all our facades. HE SEES. 

God sees each and every one of us. He is constantly finding us, reaching out to us, calling out our names. He wants our attention, He desires our acknowledgment. The moment we recognize Him, like Hagar, we truly see that He has been in our past, He is in our present and He will be in our future. It’s all up to us. It’s our choice. It’s our response to El Roi. 
WOW! To SEE and to be SEEN by God, the God of all of Heaven and Earth. The One who created the universe, the planets, the galaxies, and all the stars. The One who designed light and dark, day and night, times and seasons. The One who perfectly knit my entire being together in my mother’s womb. He sees me, and He knows me. He sees you, and He knows you.

I don’t know what your perspective of The One True God is, but let me tell you that He sees you because He wants you to be a part of His family. He gave His one and only son to die on a cross and to rise again three days later. Why? Because He is a generational God. 

He longs for both you and me. He yearns for connection and intimacy with us. Our intimacy with God always has purpose, just like intimacy within a marriage has purpose. 

Intimacy will always develop passion and compassion. PASSION is a strong feeling, a compelling emotion, a powerful desire. COMPASSION is a feeling of deep sympathy and/or sorrow followed by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering. God has passion for all of us. We are His creation. He extends His love to all of us. He also has compassion for us. He reaches out to us to help us. He wants to bring comfort, peace and give us hope. He loves us just as He finds us, just the way we are. He then wants to develop within us a passion and compassion for others. Why? Because He is a generational God who sees us. 
God wants us to love Him and then love others. Our passion for God and our compassion for others should be non-negotiable. Our desire should be generational. El Roi - the God who always sees, He always knows, He always understands, He always loves. To be SEEN and then to SEE others. See them as lovely, see them as worthy, see them through eyes of love. For this is how the kingdom of God operates!

Genesis 16:13

She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: You are the God who sees me, for she said, I have now seen the One who sees me.