Affirmations
El-Roi: The God who Sees
Sometimes we feel alone like our misery is not noticed by anyone. Today I want to remind you that we serve a God who sees In the Hebrew tongue, He is called El Roi – meaning the God who sees me. This name is found only once in the scriptures in Genesis 16 and was used by Haggai, the runaway slave and mother of Ishmael.
We all want and need to be loved. We especially expect to be loved and when we love, we love with all we’ve got expecting a similar response. But unfortunately, we live in a sinful, fallen world where we do not always love as we ought to love, and where others do not always love us in return as they ought to love.
Seeking for Love
Remember Leah, a porn in the scheme of her father Laban. Leah the unloved. The bible says that, God looked at Leah and blessed her womb. Her response was heart rendering – “The Lord has noticed my misery, and now my husband will love me.” She named him Reuben: ‘Behold a son!’ But it also sounds like the Hebrew for, “He has seen my misery.” (Genesis 29:32) But he didn’t. Some of us would stop at nothing to get the validation of others. How sad! That you would base your value on the evaluation of finite mortals. God then blessed Leah with a second son. This time she said “The Lord heard that I was unloved and has given me another son.” She said and named him Simeon which means ‘Hearing’ or ‘That is heard’ (Genesis 29:33). And still, Jacob didn’t love her, at least not by her estimation.
Still seeking Jacob’s love, Leah’s response to the birth of the third son reflected her pain: “Surely this time my husband will feel affection for me, since I have given him three sons!” She named him Levi meaning ‘Attached’ (Genesis 29:34). Yet, Jacob loved Rachel, more than Leah. It is even more painful when we are rejected for something or someone we believe to be lower than us. Leah was the elder sister, Leah always looked to the God of heaven, yet her seniority and spirituality never got her any security.
Somewhere between the birth of her third son and her fourth, Leah had a heart change. ANd I pray for a heart change for you today. Her focus shifted from gaining the love of her earthly husband to acknowledging the love of her Heavenly Father. Leah no longer based her identity on her husband or her children. Her worth was determined by God and her heart gave thanks.
The fourth son she named Judah which means ‘Praise’. ‘This time I will praise the Lord.’ she said. Then she stopped having children.”She realized that all the sons in the world could not make her husband love her. They could not increase her worth in his eyes. Somehow she had to realize that her worth came from God. She was precious in His sight. He saw her. He knew her. But most importantly, He loved her.
Infinite Hope in God
Martin Luther King Jr. Once said – we must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. He also said that there can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love.
The implication of this statement is that Leah loved Jacob very deeply, yet that love was unrequited. Leah adored Jacob. She sought his validation. Yet all she got was rejection. She was good enough for breeding. But nothing more.
Yet through Leah – this unloved wife of Jacob – all the nations of the earth were blessed. When she left off seeking man’s approval and started giving God praise, she became an ancestor of Jesus the Savior.
If we use the world’s standard of finding worth in temporary things, we run the risk of never accomplishing the task that God has placed in our hearts. We have to look to Him – our El Roi– to define us and show us our worth. we need to give Him all the praise for every situation. Only then will He be able to use us and bless us in the way that He intends.
God says in Jeremiah 31:3: “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” I tell you the bitter truth. None of us are ever going to get to a place in life where we no longer have to suffer from disappointments. Life’s punches never stop rolling. But there is a God who sees! A God who remembers His own! A God who cares for those who truth in Him.
When next you are hit with one of life’s disappointments, look up to God. Find comfort in His love. Discover the purpose for your pain. The lessons for you to learn. The changes you need to make. The prayers you need to say. The faith you need to hold on to. The courage you need to move on.
The seventh petition in the Lord’s prayer is an appeal to our heavenly father to deliver us from evil.
It reads
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen” Matthew 6:13
This is an acknowledgment, on our part, that evil plagues us and that we are unable to free ourselves from this evil.
Jeremiah 13:23
Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil?
Evil
The Greek word from which the word evil comes is “poneros”, and signifies “the wicked one”, as Satan is called. Evil is not just a trait, it is a being, and that being is the Devil. If we read Matthew 13: 19
it states;
“When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.”
The same account in Mark 4:15 reads
“And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.”
We see that the word ‘wicked’ is replaced by ‘Satan’ in Mark’s narration. The devil is evil and wicked. This is in contrast to how God is identified in the bible.
Mark 10:18
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.”
The Psalmist declares of God in Psalm 119:68a
“You are good, and what you do is good…”
This epithet of the devil as wicked and evil comes from the Greek word ponos which means labor, sorrow, misery, and this is because of grudgery which is found in the way of sin. The Bible tells us in James 1:15 that sin when it is conceived leads to death. We cannot deny the evil that sin brings. And sin, of course, has its origin in the devil. The word evil encompasses all actions and persons that hurt or bring sorrow, misery, and pain. In effect, all the actions of the devil and their consequences.
The Bible speaks of evil in different ways: evil works (Jas. 3:16), an evil time (Psalm 37:19), evil hearts (Genesis 8:21), evil ways (2 Kings 17:13), evildoers (1 Peter 2:12), and evil men – 2 Timothy 3:13. However, in trying to understand evil, we can divide it into three categories.
CATEGORIES OF EVIL
1. The evil of sin which has its fountainhead in a polluted heart:
Said Jesus, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” – Matthew 15:19
Paul also enumerates the same sinful pollutions in Gal. 5:19-21. When Jesus describes the heart of a Pharisee in the book of Matthew, he gives a vivid example of this pollution. He talks about being like graves that are polished and sparkling on the outside but inwardly are filled with uncleanliness and dead men’s bones. Sin is evil and finds its way into the deepest recesses of our hearts.
2. The evil which results from sin:
I am sure a lot of us would have thought or asked at one point or the other, Why is our life beset with so many evils — pain, sorrow, disappointment, and finally death? Why must people suffer so much and for so long? Does God place these evils upon men? These are questions that plague many people. At times the righteous suffer more than the people who make no profession at all. Why?
The answer is found in the fact that sin is the root cause of all trouble, deserved or not. Unfortunately, because the devil who is the originator of sin and evil loves to cause misery and pain, we will continue to see these circumstances all around us.
Conclusion
It is also important for us to note that not all situations which we mark as evil is actually evil. A mother may use the rod to discipline her child, but she does it because she loves the child.
For ‘whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.’
“If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”- Heb. 12:6-11
At times God permits suffering to remove out of our lives the things that would keep us out of the kingdom of God.
Daily we should come to God and as Jesus stated ask in faith that the Lord delivers us from evil. From both categories of evil. Both the evil of a polluted heart and the evil that plagues the world as a result of sin. Christ is ever willing and able to set us completely free, thus answering our petition “deliver us from evil”
As humans created in the image of God with the gift of choice given to us, we must decide every day to choose good and not evil. We must not let sin fester in our hearts and lives else the fruit borne will only bring us pain and sorrow. God can set us free from sin and its evil consequences.
As long as we live on earth, we will continually be troubled by the evil that abounds all around as sin multiplies and the love of many waxes cold. However, there is great joy in the full and final deliverance that awaits us. Unspeakable joy will fill the hearts of the redeemed when final deliverance from all evil comes. Sorrow, pain, and sighing shall flee away, and eternal joy shall take hold of all who endure to the end. It is then that the seventh and last petition will receive its final and complete answer.
It is a fact that some Christians find it very difficult to share their faith, probably because of shame, scorn, and fear of being singular. In our society, today of political correctness, hate speech and cancel culture. Religion has become extremely individualistic and private. Christians now avoid sharing their faith for fear of being offensive. At times, the fear of confronting hard questions or aggressive listeners and the facade of being too modest and humble to preach the gospel drives us to hide our faith intentionally. Unfortunately, this is a pitiful condition not only for a professed Christian but for the world at large.
The Psalmist says, “I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.”(Psalms 40:9,10) The words of the Psalmist should be the words of every Christian.
There was a time in my Christian experience when I was truly in this deplorable condition, but I broke out from the bondage of shame and reaped the benefits of sharing my Christian faith. When I came in contact with the truth, there was this zeal to preach the undiluted word until other thoughts came in like “What will people think and say?”, “Will my friends be ashamed of me?”, “How am I sure the prospective listener will be receptive to the truth?”
Breaking through the darkness
It takes persistent prayer and faith in God’s word to break through the darkness of doubt into the sandals of the gospel. In my experience, I have learned that sharing your faith can be achieved in different forms, from your conversation to your dress and deportment to having bible studies. Sharing my faith at a point became more convenient and encouraging when I went with someone, particularly someone older in experience. Ever since, I have seen the benefits of sharing my faith and I will share them with you.
Sharing my faith has deepened my understanding of scripture. Having Bible studies with Skeptics, other denominational christians and even unbelievers buoyed me up to search the bible diligently so that I may rightly divide the word of truth and give an answer to every man that asketh me the reason for my faith in and out of season. However, I came in contact with extremely difficult questions that I never thought of, but this buoyed me up the more to look for answers from the bible. Searching the scripture has helped me to know more about God’s character, holiness, justice, the creation, sin, grace, the efficacy of the Christ’s blood, and so on.
I also discovered that whenever I shared biblical truth with others it becomes clearer to me and more personal. Indeed “the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.”(Philemon 1:6) Sharing my faith has also taught me to love. The more I share my faith and know the importance of the truth I profess, the more my love for God and my neighbors. A properly motivated witnessing grows our love for God and our neighbors.
The Joy of Sharing Your Faith
Experiencing the joy and privilege of leading someone to Christ and witnessing the freedom from sinful habits will show us how powerful and merciful God truly is. Another intriguing aspect of sharing my faith are the shreds of evidence of supernatural alliances. Working with supernatural agencies can be shocking and overwhelming. When I speak with people I see the divine orchestration of the Holy Spirit in their experience to woo them to all truth. It is truly comforting to know God is with you and see undeniable pieces of evidence of His guardianship.
Another adventurous benefit is the opportunity to speak to different people from different backgrounds, the privilege of conversing with different minds, and the wisdom in dealing with and addressing different issues. Sharing my faith has helped me also develop a more mature and refined Christian character and to sympathize better with those struggling with character defects.
Sharing your faith tells the world you love them and truly seek their good. Love should always be the motivating factor for a Christian. A Christian who does not share his or her faith will end up a more miserable Christian. If you have any comments, you can share them in the comment’s section.
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