Two months after my son was arrested, I attended Lysa Terkeurst’s She Speaks conference in North Carolina. This was a tough time to travel away from home, but this was a pre-paid trip. So I tapped into my reserve energy and traveled across two time zones to attend this conference.

The staff informed attendees that they set up a prayer room that they used to pray over each person. No small task as there were approximately 600 attendees.

We received an open invitation to go to the prayer room at any time throughout the conference to find our name and the prayer they prayed for each of us.

The staff placed all the names of God on tables which were situated along the walls. We were to look on the tables to find our name under the name of God they felt led to pray for each person. (Mind you the attendees names are not in alphabetical order, but placed under the name of God where the intercessors felt led to place it. So searching through 600 names to find one required patience.)

When I found my name, it was under El Roi. They prayed for me “The God who sees me.”

I felt something was significant about this divine appointment. But at the time my heart ached. I was broken. Wounded. Angry.

I cried out to God, “You see me, but will You do something about this situation?”

Then almost six years after I attended the conference, I remembered the prayer and dug into the meaning of El Roi.  (Yes, sometimes I’m stubborn and slow to get God’s messages, but thank God HE is patient with me!)

El Roi is found in Genesis 16.

Hagar was Sarai’s servant. God promised Abram and Sarai an heir, but Sarai had already passed the conception phase of womanhood. So Sarai decided to take charge over God’s plan and suggested to her husband, Abram, to take Hagar as his wife so they could have a child. Abram complied with Sarai’s request and Hagar became pregnant. When Hagar saw that she conceived, and Sarai could not, Hagar looked upon Sarai with contempt.

Frustrated with her servant, Sarai complained to her husband. He told Sarai, do with her want you want. So Sarai mistreated Hagar.

Due to the abuse, Hagar ran away.

My friends, in times of adversity we want to run away. Avoiding pain is natural response.

Looking back to the time just after my son’s arrest, I was in a stage of grief called denial. Denying reality is a form of running away.

Though I had made plans to attend that conference for a different reason, the Lord had ordered my steps to be there to show me that He sees me.

The angel of the Lord met Hagar in the wilderness and instructed her to return to her mistress and serve her.

“So Hagar named the Lord who spoke to her, ‘You are the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘Here I have seen one who sees me!’ That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi” (Genesis 16:13-14 NET).

In verse 13, the Hebrew name for “You are the God who sees me” is El Roi. And in the next verse (14), the well was called Beer Lahai Roi, which means “The well of the Living One who sees me.’ The text suggests that God takes up the cause of those who are oppressed.”*

So now I realize, God not only saw me, He took up my cause. Looking back, I see what HE did! Praise the LORD!

The thing is, I did not see it when I was in it. I had to return to my Master and serve Him to see that God saw me. Not only did He see me, He took up my cause even though I did not recognize Him in the midst of it.

Know this, even if it feels like the Lord does not see you, He does. The Lord meets you in your wilderness season. While there, He comforts you with an encouraging word, He gives instruction, He sees you, and takes up your cause.

El Roi — “The God who sees me.”

*[Source: Biblical Studies Press. (2005). The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible. Biblical Studies Press.]