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Seeing people through being seen

Genesis 16:13 

“She gave his name to the Lord who spoke to her: You are the God who sees me, for she said, I have seen the One who sees me” 

One of the names of God is ‘El Roi’ which translates to “The God who sees me”. When hearing that, you're probably feeling quite exposed or feel that you have no privacy, however being seen is actually a good thing. A God that sees you shows that whatever you’re going through, even the things you don’t tell anyone about, you and I have a God that acknowledges our pain and acknowledges our circumstance. You are not alone in your struggles.  

Relating to the verse, to provide context, here is what is going on: 

Hagar, an Egyptian slave, has essentially been mistreated by Sarai (Abraham’s wife) because she got pregnant and Sarai hadn’t at that time, so she was just moving jealous (a bit unnecessary if you ask me) With this mistreatment,  Hagar tries to run away from her distress and God essentially says that he hears her misery and will increase her descendants. Through this we have Hagar give this name to God: ‘El Roi’.  


Maybe Hagar was the one that associated God in this way, but I think we all can too. Often, we can get so consumed with our problems and issues that we may try run away from them, maybe even isolate ourselves but I think it’s just a reminder that God sees us. He knows what we are going through and we can give our distresses to him.  


And I think as out of an extension of God seeing us, I think it’s important that we create a space where people are also seen: not necessarily physically ‘seen’ but just to let them know that they’re not alone, the same way God sees us, allowing for a space of vulnerability. 


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