Sapate Fepueli 5, 2023
The Eyes-Wide-Open God אל ראי
KO E ‘OTUA
‘OKU NE FOFONGA MAI
GENESIS 16:13
SO [HAGAR] CALLED THE NAME OF
THE LORD WHO SPOKE
TO HER, "YOU ARE A GOD OF
SEEING," FOR SHE SAID,
"TRULY HERE I HAVE SEEN HIM WHO LOOKS AFTER ME."
GENESIS 16:13
Pea ‘ai ‘e he fefine ha huafa ‘o Sihova ‘a ia kuo ne folofola kiate ia, ‘o pehē, KO ‘ELA-LO‘I koe [ko e ‘Otua Hā Mai], he‘ene pehē, He ‘oku ou kei ‘i heni ‘o sio hili ‘eku sio!
The only person in the Old Testament to name God is a pregnant Egyptian woman, on the run, in the wilderness, with nowhere to go. Hagar was the victim of Abram and Sarai's faltering faith. Frustrated with the slowness of God to give them a promised son, they took matters into their own hands and Hagar into Abram's bed. According to the custom of those days, the child of Sarai's servant, Hagar, would legally belong to Sarai. But the plan backfired. Hagar got uppity, Sarai became angry and mistreated her servant, and into the desert Hagar fled.
When the Lord's messenger found her, he told her to return to her mistress, that she would be the mother of a multitude, and-most importantly that the "LORD has listened to [her] affliction" (Gen. 16:11). In response, she named the Lord El Roi, "a God of seeing." The word Roi is from the verb ra'ah, to see. She who felt unseen was truly seen by God. He looked after her. He sees us too with eyes of compassion and mercy. He is not blind to our suffering, for we are the "apple of his eye" (Deut. 32:10).
Look on us, El Roi, with eyes
that see us as your beloved children.
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