Tues Devotional

Daily Devotional 

from Touching Lives with Dr. James Merritt:

“Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.”
Psalm 139:16


Throughout Scripture, God is called by various names. People in the Bible gave some of these names to Him, while others are names that He first called Himself. Each name describes a part of His character. A woman named Hagar first used one of these names. When God met her in her distress, she said, “You are the God who sees me…I have now seen the One who sees me” (Genesis 16:13). This phrase, “The God Who Sees Me,” is translated “El Roi” in Hebrew.

El Roi is the God who numbers the hairs on our heads and counts our every tear. He knows every detail of our circumstances. When we pray to El Roi, we are praying to the God who knows everything about us. Even the most attentive parent must sleep; but our Heavenly Father never closes His eyes to us. El Roi never misses a detail of what is happening. He sees everything.

King David also knew God as El Roi, according to Psalm 139:16. He understood just how all-seeing God is, noting that God sees not only what is, but also what will be. It is mind-boggling to think of El Roi seeing us in His mind’s eye…imagining just how He will form and fashion every detail of our being. He not only sees us, He also sees every one of our days, which are pre-ordained and written in His book. Yes, Hagar, He is the God who sees!

How could we not trust such a God? How can we doubt Him if we know Him as El Roi? How much time and energy do we spend seeking to be seen and known, when we already have this need fully met in Jesus? When we trust Christ and our eyes are opened in faith, for the first time we clearly see God. Like Hagar, we cry, “I have now seen the One who sees me!”

Do you know God as El Roi?

El Roi, Thank You for seeing me, just as I am, and loving me fully and completely. Thank You for also seeing what I can be in Christ, and transforming me into the image of Your Son. It is such a comfort to know that no matter what has happened, is happening, or will happen, You see it all and You are in control. Help me to trust You more and more each day. In Jesus’ name, amen.