Wed.’s Devo - The God Who Sees Us

Genesis 16:1-18:15; Matthew 6:1-24; Psalm 7:1-17; Proverbs 2:1-5 It had been 10 years since God had given Abram the promise of a son. Sarai proposed that she give Abram her Egyptian servant, Hagar and have a son through her. Hagar had probably been given to Abram by the Pharaoh in exchange for Sarah in Genesis 12:16. The Pharaoh gave Hagar to get what he wanted, which was Sarah. And now Sarah was using Hagar to get what she wanted, which was a son. No wonder Hagar had such a spiteful attitude. Hagar had never been able to do what she wanted. *** There arose such a contention between Hagar and Sarai that Sarai got Abram involved. Abram told her to do whatever she wanted to do with Hagar. Sarai dealt so harshly with her that Hagar ran away. *** The angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness and told her to return to Sarai and submit to her authority. She would have a son and name him Ishmael. He would be wild and live in open hostility with all his relatives. *** Hagar told the Lord that he was the God who sees her. The well she was at was named Beer-lahai-roi which means “well of the Living One who sees me”. It is still there today. *** Hagar returned to Sarai and when Hagar had Ishmael, Abram was 86 years old. Thirteen years later, God appeared to Abram and told him that He was El-Shaddai - God Almighty. He was there to confirm his covenant with Abram that he would give him countless descendants. God increased the promise to a multitude of nations and changed his name from Abram to Abraham. God said he would confirm this covenant with his descendants after him for generations. He would always be his God and the God of his descendants. He was giving him the entire land of Canaan to be his possession forever. *** Abraham’s responsiblilty was to obey the terms of the covenant. Each male must be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. This applied to their servants born in his household and those purchased. Anyone who refused would be cut off from the covenant. *** God changed Sarai’s name to Sarah. She would have a son and become the mother of many nations and kings. Abram asked if Ishmael would be under this covenant. God’s answer was, No. Sarah would have a son named Isaac and the covenant would be for him. Ishmael would also be blessed and be fruitful and multiply. He would become the father of 12 princes and become a great nation. But, God’s covenant would be confirmed through Isaac who would be born about the same time the next year. *** Abraham took Ishmael and every male in his household and circumcised them and himself. Abraham was 99 years old, Ishmael was 13 and Sarai was 98. *** The Lord appeared to Abraham again that year in the form of a man. He brought two other angels with him. Abraham had Sarai prepare food for them. After they ate, they asked about Sarah. She was in the tent close enough to hear them. The Lord told Abraham that about this time next year she would have a son. Sarah heard it and laughed at the absurdity of it. When they called her out for laughing she denied it. The Lord said exactly what she thought and told her she did laugh. God truly is the God who sees and hears everything we do, say and think. *** In Matthew, Jesus tells us not to do our good deeds to call attention to them. When we pray, we are not to babble on and one with ritualistic liturgy, but we are to pray to God whose name is holy. We are to pray that his will is done on earth. We are to pray for today’s needs and for forgiveness of our sins. We are to forgive others like we want to be forgiven. We are to pray to be rescued from temptation that would lead to sin. *** Forgiveness is a very important thing for us to do. Fasting is like doing good deeds - it is between us and God. Instead of storing up things on earth, we are to store up treasures in heaven. We are to be filled with truth which is the light. We can not serve two masters. We cannot serve God and money. *** Lord, I thank you that you are the God who sees into our souls. You see the hunger and the lack and you love us. You fill us with your love and cover our sins. You are our shield and our high tower. We run to you for help and you never disappoint.