January 25 Morning Verse of the Day

16:13 You are a God of seeing. This divine name is not attested elsewhere. It expresses the deep significance to Hagar of God’s gracious revelation to her. Even while she was lost in the wilderness, God had seen her and revealed Himself to her.

Sproul, R. C., ed. (2005). The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (p. 36). Ligonier Ministries.

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16:13 You are El-Roi The Hebrew phrase used here, el ro’i, can be translated as “God of seeing,” referring to God’s ability to see everything; “God of my seeing,” a testimonial by Hagar that she has witnessed a divine being; or “God who sees me,” a more personal version of the first translation. Hagar’s remaining words suggest that the phrase deliberately expresses all of these.

Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., Whitehead, M. M., Grigoni, M. R., & Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Ge 16:13). Lexham Press.

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16:13 Hagar is impressed by the perceptiveness of God as revealed through his angel-messenger. This is seen in the name she gives to the Lord; she calls him God of seeing (Hb. ’El Ro’i). here I have seen him who looks after me. Although this could imply that Hagar actually saw God himself, her remarks may also be interpreted as denoting an inner perception; she perceives that God sees or “looks after” her.

16:13 Hagar perceives that the Lord has spoken to her, which implies that “the angel of the LORD” is divine. Some think that this is a preincarnate appearance of Christ. Christ is the final, divine messenger of the covenant (Mal. 3:1) who is anticipated in this scene.

Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 79). Crossway Bibles.

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16:13 You are a God who sees. Recognizing the Angel as God and ascribing this new name to Him arose from Hagar’s astonishment at having been the object of God’s gracious attention. The theophany and revelation led her to call Him also “The One Who Lives and Sees Me” (v. 14).

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Ge 16:13). Thomas Nelson Publishers.

MARCH 18 | Meeting Your Needs

SCRIPTURE READING: Genesis 16
KEY VERSES: Psalm 130:3–4

       If You, Lord, should mark iniquities,
       O Lord, who could stand?
       But there is forgiveness with You,
       That You may be feared.

Abram and Sarai thought they were doing a good thing. After all, God promised them a son to be the heir of the promise and God’s special covenant. He didn’t specify exactly how this birth would come about, they must have reasoned.
Maybe Sarai was impatient. Maybe she struggled with waiting for such a long time. She could have simply felt inadequate for the task. So she proposed to Abram that he try to have a child with her maidservant Hagar, and he readily agreed.
What was the result? Hagar bore a son named Ishmael, who grew up to be a rival of Abram’s covenant family through Isaac. There has been no end of trouble and fighting through the outworking of their sin in not trusting the Lord to fulfill His promise in His timing. God did bless them fully, but they always had the heartache and reminder of their attempt to go around God’s ways.
Have you ever tried to meet your needs outside God’s legitimate plan? You probably know the pain of that mistake, and you quickly learned why it is so important to trust the Lord fully. What is more important now is that you grasp His forgiveness through Christ. There is no such thing as a misstep so big you can never go back.
Don’t waste time living in guilt. Let God’s forgiveness free you to enjoy His good for you today.

Lord, I don’t want to waste time living in guilt. Forgive me so I can be free to enjoy the good things You have planned for me today.

Stanley, C. F. (2002). Seeking His face (p. 81). Thomas Nelson Publishers.

JANUARY 13.—MORNING. [Or January 25.] “Thou God seest me.”

GENESIS 16

NOW Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. (Sarai therefore proposed to Abram that Hagar should become his secondary wife. This was a very usual custom in those days, but it was not a commendable one, and it was an unbelieving act on Sarai’s part to propose it.
It is not always easy to patiently wait the Lord’s time. We are all too apt to run to expedients of our own; as if the Lord needed our help to fulfil his promises.)
2 And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. (Thus those we love best may be the means of leading us astray. The father of mankind sinned by hearkening to his wife, and now the father of the faithful follows his example.)
3 And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.
4 ¶ And when Hagar saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.
5 And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee. (It was Sarai who proposed the arrangement, and now she upbraids her husband for it. It is of no use to lay the blame of our faults upon others, for if we step out of the straight path we shall be sure personally to smart for it.)
6 But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.
Thus Sarai was first unbelieving to God, next unkind to her husband, and then cruel to her servant; so one wrong step leads to others. Unbelief sins, and produces other sins. Even this holy woman was not without infirmity. “There is none good, save one, that is God.”
7 ¶ And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.
8 And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. (She did not say where she was going, for she did not know. Let each of us ask himself. “Whither am I going?”)
9 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.
10 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. (No one could use such language as this but the Angel of the Covenant. Here is a proof of the inspired declaration, “My delights were with the sons of men.”)
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
13 And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me? (First, God sees us; and then, by his gracious visitations, he leads us to look after himself.)
14 Wherefore the well was called Beer-lahairoi; (The well of the living One, my Seer;) behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
15 ¶ And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael. (But this was not, as he had hoped, the promised heir; on the contrary, he became the occasion of much trial to the family. When we call in legality to help grace, or sight to assist faith, we miss our object, and ensure for ourselves no little sorrow. The whole scene is a painful one, and should warn us that even in a gracious household sin may sow dissension, and cause heart-burnings and distress.)

  Quick as the apple of an eye,
     O God, my conscience make!
  Awake my soul, when sin is nigh,
     And keep it still awake.

  Oh may the least omission pain
     My well-instructed soul;
  And drive me to the blood again,
     Which makes the wounded whole!

Spurgeon, C. H. (1964). The Interpreter: Spurgeon’s Devotional Bible (p. 25). Baker Book House.