From the Beginning: A Devotional Commentary on Genesis (IX)

In Genesis 16, we find one of the most mysterious and also one of the most encouraging stories in all of Genesis: the story of Abraham's handmaiden, Hagar. As an Egyptian among Hebrews, a woman among men, and a slave girl among the wealthy, Hagar is quite literally at the bottom of the social totem pole (if it doesn't raise a lump in your throat in verse 4, when Sarai and Abram force Hagar into surrogacy, so that Sarai can "build a family through her," you're not reading closely enough).

Anyways, Hagar flees into the wilderness and collapses near a spring of water, alone, abused and abandoned, and that's where YHWH meets her. He comforts her and sends her back to Abram, but not before telling her to name her forth-coming child Ishmael. "Ishmael" in Hebrew means "God has heard", as in, God has heard the cries of this broken-hearted outcast. But then Hagar turns around and actually names God. This is a big deal: not even Abram dared to give God a name; nor will Moses do it later on in the story (Exodus 3:13). It is, actually, the first time in the Bible that any human being makes so bold as to name him.

And what a human being! An abused, abandoned Egyptian slave girl. And what a name she gives him: "El Roi." In Hebrew the name means "The God who sees." YHWH tells Hagar, "I'm the God who hears," and then Hagar ups the ante, "Then you're also the God who sees."

"Now I've seen", she says,"the God who sees me... in my hurt and isolation... in my oppression and need ... in my despair .... You are the God who sees all that."

Amen.

If you're in a place today at all like Hagar was that day, then know that there is one who not only hears, but sees. In that sense, we are all "Ishmael" to him-- "Heard by God"-- and he is our El Roi.

From the Beginning: A Devotional Commentary on Genesis (VIII)

In Genesis 15:1, God addresses Abram and gives himself a name that the wandering nomad of the Faith can know him by. He says, "Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield, your very great reward." It's a fascinating line, actually, because just previously, Abram named God (when speaking to the King of Salem), by calling him "El Elyon (God Most High) the creator of heaven and earth." In just one chapter after this, Hagar will call Him El Roi, the God who sees. In Chapter 17, He will introduce himself as El Shaddai (God Almighty). And on it goes, until Moses finally says, "What's your name, God?" and God gives him the covenant name that we get YHWH from: I AM WHO I AM.

My point is just that the naming of God is a really big deal in Genesis, and here, in Genesis 15:1, is the very first time God names himself: I am "You Protector, Your Very Great Reward," he says. Well, it's not quite a name exactly, but it's close enough for our purposes, because in the Hebrew Bible, God's names and God's character are intricately intertwined. At the very least, one of the first things Abram finds out about God, as he comes to know him is that a) God is the Great Protector, his shield and that b) in this protection Abram will find his Very Great Reward.

And it leaves me thinking: Do I trust the protection of God over my life so intimately that I could name Him the way He names himself, as The Very Great Reward? That is to say: Do I trust him enough that his presence is really all the reward I need, or hope to get out of life?