I recently re-watched the movie The Princess Diaries on Disney +. In the beginning of the movie, fifteen-year-old Mia Thermopolis is just like any other high school student, preparing arguments for debate club and playing baseball in gym class. She is mostly unseen by her peers, but that’s okay with her because she’s content hanging out with her close friends.
Out of the blue, Mia’s grandmother visits her and tells Mia that she is the queen of the European country Genovia, which means that Mia is a princess. She trades her thick, frizzy hair and glasses for pretty hair and princess clothes. Mia is finally seen.
But being seen is not all it’s cracked up to be. Mia’s new “friends” just use her to get a few minutes of fame on TV, and she realizes that her real friends were the ones who had seen her and loved her the whole time, even before she became a princess.
Mia’s story somewhat reminds me of the story of another woman – Hagar.
Hagar was a mostly unseen woman. She was an Egyptian servant to Abram’s wife, Sarai (whose name, ironically, means “princess”). We don’t know if Hagar was content in her life situation or not, but that situation drastically changed when Sarai decided to let her husband sleep with Hagar.
You see, God had earlier promised Abram that he would have a son, and that son would be the beginning of a great nation. But both Abram and Sarai were old, and Sarai was barren. Sarai did not believe that she was able to conceive and bear a child for her husband, so she figured the only possible way for her husband to have this promised child was for him to sleep with a younger woman. And she had a younger woman – Hagar.
The Bible doesn’t elaborate on how Hagar felt about this. If I were Hagar, I think being given to an old man just to produce a child for him would make me feel humiliated and used and dirty. But maybe being considered Abram’s wife allowed Hagar more privileges and a better life than she would have had if she had remained Sarai’s servant.
Whatever her feelings were about this new situation, Hagar did sleep with Abram and she did become pregnant. The Bible tells us that at this point Hagar “looked with contempt” on Sarai (Genesis 16:4, ESV). The Good News Bible translates the phrase as, “she became proud and despised Sarai.” Throughout ancient history, fertility was favored and praised while barren women were often looked down upon. Fertility was seen as a blessing, and barrenness was seen as a curse. Hagar was seen. She was fertile, not Sarai. She was pregnant, not Sarai. She was blessed, not Sarai. She was seen, and she felt good.
Those good feelings didn’t last long, though. Sarai saw Hagar’s contempt, and she despised the slave girl. So, Sarai dealt harshly with Hagar and mistreated her. The mistreatment was so bad that Hagar had to run away.
Hagar had no place to go. She was in the middle of the wilderness, far from her homeland and her family. She was pregnant and vulnerable and alone. Her blessing turned into a curse. And she was no longer seen.
Or so she may have thought. God finds Hagar by a spring in the wilderness. He encourages her to return to Abram and Sarai, but He also promises that her offspring will be multiplied innumerably. Before she returns, Hagar gives God a name –
“So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, ‘You are a God of seeing,’ for she said, ‘Truly here I have seen Him who looks after me.’” Genesis 16:13, ESV
El Roi. The God who sees. God had seen Hagar and loved her before she got pregnant, and He saw her and loved her when her life seemed to be falling apart.
Bible teacher Beth Moore explains the concept of “El Roi” far better than I can:
“He sees when no one else cares go look. He sees through the smiles we wear when we’re dying inside. He sees our hurt when we’re mistreated. He sees us when we cry into our pillow because we feel unloved. He sees beyond our sin into the depth of our need. He sees when we’re hiding. Running. He sees when we continue to sow the seed of His Word even in the floodplain of our grief… He is the God who sees you.”[1]
Our God is El Roi, the God who sees. Our mighty, sovereign, all-powerful God sees you and knows you and loves you far more than you could ever imagine. He sees you during your darkest moments, when you’re alone, when you’re scared, when you have nowhere to go, when you’re unseen by everybody else. He saw you in your mother’s womb, He saw you as you grew up, He saw you in life’s ups and downs. He sees you right now, and He sees your future. El Roi cares for you, looks after you, and is working everything for your ultimate good.
I am praying for you, dear reader. I am praying that you will embrace El Roi. I am praying that on your darkest days and even on your better days that you will cry out to God because He does see you, and He does love you, and He does care for you. And I pray –
“The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26
[1] Beth Moore, The Patriarchs: Encountering the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Nashville: LifeWay Press, 2005), 39.
