You are the God who sees me.
—Genesis 16:13
The massive statue, Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer)—ninety-eight feet high, arms spread wide—stands watch over Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Millions see this Jesus, but this Jesus sees and hears no one.
The first person to give God a name was a mistreated slave: Hagar was a runaway from her fuming mistress, Sarai. Alone in a death-threatening desert, she received an angelic promise that she would have a son named Ishmael (God hears). In response, Hagar gave God the name El Roi (the One who sees me).
Your God is not a blind and deaf monument. He sees and hears: “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry” (Ps 34:15).
God is attentive to both the
up-and-in and the down-and-out.