El Roi

Two things are valuable to know and remember about the Hebrew name for God, "El Roi."  It means "the God who sees me."  Two things are obvious I think.  First, God does see us and God cares about our days, our decisions, our choices and how our lives unfold.  The second it a bit more ominous ... God sees and cares about what I do on a daily basis.

In this blog I will give you what I personally think about this Hebrew term.  But please remember ... it doesn't really matter what I think (or what you think) about this attribute of God.  What matters is what God thinks!  Let's cut to the chase.

On our trip I asked every member of the team to share thoughts about why they came and about their impressions of the work we did and the people we met.  We knew we left David and Pamela Knapp (Radical Life Ministries leaders) with children we had touched, loved, taught and provided for.  We knew we left them a finished roof for their workshop, a lawn mower for the property and with new relationships with a great group of people from Abbeville.  And we knew we worked very hard while we were there.  God saw every paint stroke, every drop of sweat, every hug we left those children and every thing we said and did.  God sees.

God also sees me as I struggle, doubt, and wonder "what if?"  God sees Abbeville UMC as we make decisions and I always pray our choices and directions are Jesus-centered and God-led.  God sees as our annual conference gathers (next week we will meet in Montgomery) and God will see our motives as we vote.  God sees us corporately as we either follow Him or try to appease societal norms.  God sees us as we use made-up ways to conform to society, saying (like some of our Bishops have done) "we want to contextualize."  God sees as I rationalize what is right and wrong, forgetting that Paul warned us "We are allowed to do all things, but not all things are good for us to do.  We are allowed to do all things but not all things help others grow stronger (1 Cor. 10:23)."  God's word (from the God who sees) gives us great guidance for life like ... "don't seek life from dead things" ... "don't be changed into the world but be transformed into what God is creating."  God sees!  Yes, He cares about every hair on our head.  But God also cares how we tell people about Jesus ... through our choices ... through our resources ... through our words ... through our thoughts ... through how we do life in the revealing light of God!  Randy