Search the scriptures, and you will find that God has many descriptive names. Search the scriptures and you will see that to each person, in every season, God has become something to them that they never would have experienced if they had not go through that victory, hardship, crises, or trial. He is the GREAT I AM, yes indeed. However, He is also a God of many attributes.

Have you ever prayed the prayer, "Lord, I want to know You more?"

I know I have. Many times I have cried out in desperation to know God more. With this plea, you need to also realize, it is an invitation. When you tell God that you want to know Him more, you also need to prepare yourself for how He will answer. And just to give you a sneak-peak to the upcoming answer; He almost always answers through personal experience.

So, recently I prayed that prayer, and today He answered. Yet the answer given wasn't delivered in the way that I had originally expected, and you know what? It never usually is. I love that so much about God. He could have pointed me to scripture, led me to the right book to read, or He even could have spoken through a friend. Instead, He chose to reveal Himself to me through experience. I had to go through something to experience a side of Him that I had, until today, only heard of.

EL ROI (el raw-EE) - The God who sees me

There is only one place in the bible where you hear of God being called this name, and I want to take you there right now to give you better understanding.

Abram and Sarai (soon to be Abraham and Sarah), were promised a child by God in their old age and Abram was to be the Father of Many Nations. Although this was absolutely impossible in the natural, God was ready to prove Himself strong through the supernatural. And so, Abram and Sarai waited. Year after year the promise seemed more far off than the year before, yet they continued to wait upon the Lord. Well, there came a time where Sarai decided to take matters into her own hands.

Sarai decided to give her Egyptian slave, Hagar to her husband Abram to conceive this child that God had promised. And so, Abram slept with Hagar and Hagar became pregnant with a son. Not the son that God had promised, but a son produced through the plans of man. Because of this incident, Hagar was treated badly by Sarai so Hagar decided to run away into the desert. Distressed, depressed, and without hope, Hagar laid in the desert by a stream, and an Angel of the Lord come to her and encouraged her to go back to Sarai and Abram. He then revealed to her that she was in fact pregnant with a son to which she would name Ishmael

Restored in spirit, Hagar then responded, and her response is the foundation of what I am speaking to you about today,

Genesis 16:13 - She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "I have now seen the One who sees me."

Take a moment and think about that.

It is not just the fact that God is all-knowing and sees all things. It goes deeper. It zones in on the simple truth that God sees us in our despair, our quiet desperation, and in our present struggle. Through this, He reveals to us a new facet of His love...

He sees us.

Yet, not only does He see us, He then shows us that because He sees us, He will also reach out His hand of comfort and compassion to rescue us. Why is it so important to God that we know He sees us? Because it is just one of the many facets that proves His great love for us. It is just one of the ways that He has confirmed to us that we are truly never alone.

I am not sure where you find yourself today, but for some, this may be the moment that everything "clicks" for you. Maybe you are all too familiar with the sting of rejection. Or maybe you have been rattled one too many times with the feelings of being lonely, forgotten, overlooked, or even misplaced. For some of you, maybe all you've ever known was a life of hidden secrets, abuse, and the overwhelming fact that no one understands or even cares. I get that, and I am fully aware that knowing God as The God who sees me can be incredibly difficult to comprehend.

But let me open your eyes to something; you are in a very intricate position to truly experience Him in this profound way. You have the opportunity to believe with all of your heart that God is, El Roi, the God who always sees you, always knows you and always understands you, even in your suffering.

I invite you today to take a moment, close your eyes, and ask God to reveal Himself to you as El Roi, the God who sees you.

**Because sometimes...just knowing that God sees you...is more than enough.**

Here are a few words the Lord placed upon my heart for you today,

"I am not far off as you have assumed. I am not silent as you have believed me to be. I am everywhere and in all places, beloved. I am in your suffering, your impatience, your hopelessness, and your pain. I am your present peace, I am your eternal comforter, I am your faithful companion, your constant Friend. Yet even more, I am your protecting Father. Nothing escapes my sight. You have never wandered too far, you have never disappointed me to leave. Instead, I am. I AM because I AM here...even now. Do not look back, for I do not dwell in your past. Do not run ahead, for I am not living in your future. I cannot be confined to time, nor can my presence be measured by your days. Rest that I am with you now, for I am the God who sees you, who knows you, who hears you, who understands you, and who loves you.

Be still...know that I AM."

Amy Basel