Beholding the Beholder: The God Who Sees Us

You can be in a crowded room full of people and still feel invisible. You can be competent and gifted and faithful and generous and still wonder if anyone notices. Not just notices what you do, but notices who you are. And if we're honest, many of us might even carry that same question in our relationship with the living God. [00:35:35] (31 seconds)  #SeenForWhoYouAre

And at first, this title sounds like it's about what we do, about our vision, our ability to see God, actually learning to see God more clearly. And it is that, and we'll get to it, but it's not where scripture begins. The bible's starting point is far more surprising. It's far more hopeful. Before we even look for God, God looks for us. Before we behold God, God beholds us. [00:36:42] (35 seconds)  #FoundBeforeSeeking

The story's details name just how unseen and how alone Hagar is, and so eventually, she runs. She's pregnant. She's alone. She's vulnerable. And so she goes to the wilderness, we're told, the place in scripture where people go when there are no other options for safety. By every social and religious measure, Hagar is invisible. Know anyone who feels like that? [00:41:20] (40 seconds)  #InvisibleButSeen

God calls her by name. God names her reality. God asks where are you coming from and where are you going? Not to interrogate her, not because he doesn't know for himself, but to locate her in the story. Like the story of God looking for our first parents in Genesis three, This is not a question of geography. It's a question of relationship. It's not where are you in the world? I can't find you. Do you know where you are? It's where are you with me? [00:43:19] (40 seconds)  #CalledByName

``The unseen one becomes the theologian, The least powerful character so far in the story is given the privilege of revealing the truth about God to the world, and notice the name that she gives him. It's not a name of power. It's not a name of judgment. It's not a name of distance. It is El Rohi, the God who sees me. [00:47:17] (31 seconds)  #GodWhoSeesMe

And this is the heartbeat of this entire series. Transformation does not begin with us seeing God correctly. It begins when we realize that we are already seen completely and we're still loved. Hagar names God not because she's got the right doctrine, not because she's got the right rituals, not from being but some simply from being looked at and not turned away. [00:48:00] (31 seconds)  #SeenAndLoved

God takes that upon himself in Christ, and he redeems those places from the inside out. And so today, the invitation is simple, but it's not easy. The invitation is not to fix yourself and get yourself together, not to prove your worth, not to see more clearly or to get it right. The invitation is to simply stop hiding. [00:53:35] (28 seconds)  #ComeOutOfHiding

Let your self be seen. The God who saw you, the God who saw Hagar sees you. The God who saw Hagar sees you now with all of your beauty and with all of your flaws. God sees what you carry. God sees what you're afraid of, and god sees even what you have not known how to name for yourself, [00:54:03] (28 seconds)  #SeenWhole