El Roi: The God who Sees Us

We hear that God cares about both the big things and the little things in our lives. No prayer request is too small for God. But is that really true? We believe that He is omnipotent, but does He actually care about those small things that may seem insignificant to people in the world? 
Author and PWP Writing Mentor, Linda Slomin, shares a recent experience where she discovered the God of great things is the God of small things, too. 

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I recently learned that God truly is faithful through a challenging experience in my life when I wondered if God actually cared.
 
It wasn't a concern about a health issue, a family member's salvation, or somebody struggling with drugs or suicide. You know—those big prayer requests. It revolved around a missions trip to Israel I organized that had been canceled one week before the Hamas War started.
 
The airlines gave us, as individuals, our money back—but not the missionary organization with which we were connected which required us to select a different missions destination.
 
But my group specifically wanted to go to Israel, and that was a closed door. I felt responsible for refunding my team their hundreds of dollars given to this organization as a deposit. My idea was to form a new trip with this organization and a brand-new location. If I could find 15 people, I could reimburse the first group with this new group’s deposit.
 
The challenge was in finding fifteen people who had passports and the money to go. Our destination would be Prince Edward Island in Canada, a place that I had never heard of before. The date selected was August 17th which gave me a few months to recruit after our last missions trip, but before children went back to school. 
 
I chose to go with a travel company called Fly My Group. They were friendly, efficient, and could discount group airline tickets. I leapt out in faith and secured fifteen plane tickets, but my high expectations soon turned to disappointment and a stressful situation.
 
I recruited all that I could from the canceled trip and new people from my church, but it didn't equal fifteen. Even worse, some who committed to going, with money paid, backed out. As the numbers fluctuated, so did my stress level. In addition, if I didn't meet Fly My Group's deadline, they would keep my entire deposit of $2,250—money I could not afford to lose. 
 
I reached out to prayer lines and friends for support. I heard from some, "Maybe you missed God because this is causing you too much stress." It implied that God's grace is only on those things that come easy to us.
 
I wasn't trying to be stubborn in my goal of fifteen people. I wanted to be faithful as a leader. I wondered if God really cared about this venture since it wasn't about a life-or-death situation—a dramatic rescue or even just paying an electric bill before my electricity got cut off. 
 
As I continued to lean into my Lord to help me through this valley, He granted me the miracle I sought—but not without hurtful opposition.
 
Those that I hoped would support me did not. The miracle came through a stranger who is now my good friend: a missions-minded Pastor from a church in Philadelphia. Not only did he help me supplement the cost of several of my attendees, but he recruited two other people and came on the trip as well. He remained humble the entire time, allowing me to lead as the trip's leader. Even so, I was thankful for how God used his wisdom and gentle guidance when my team needed it. 
 
My Lord met me as El Roi.
 
We first learn about El Roi, the God who Sees, in Genesis when Hagar runs away from her mistress, Sarai. Instructed to be Abraham's secondary wife, Hagar laid with him and became pregnant. Pride entered her heart, and she looked down on Sarai with contempt because Sarai could not conceive a child.
 
This incited Sarai to complain to Abraham, who then gave his wife permission to do with Hagar whatever she wished. Sarai treated her harshly and humiliated her. So, Hagar fled alone with her son Ishmael into the barren wilderness. 
 
But she did not go unnoticed by God! As recorded in Genesis 16:10-13, an Angel of the Lord found Hagar by a spring of water and told her, “ . . . I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.” Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are God Who Sees;” for she said, “Have I not even here [in the wilderness] remained alive after seeing Him [who sees me with understanding and compassion]?"
 
God sees the lonely and lowly in the deserts of their lives and blesses them. He saw me in my valley of doubt and disappointment. He sees you in all your life situations—big or small. He is aware and He cares. Don't ever doubt it again! 

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Linda Slomin's heart for missions ignited the power of story to share the gospel with children on foreign mission fields through a puppet show. Eventually, she published her story in a picture book format with award winning artist George Perez, The Very Sensitive Princess. Find Linda's book in the PWP Bookshop today!

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