Life Application on Adonai Yahweh, the Sovereign LORD

Read Ezekiel 37:1-14.

As it is with the personal name of God, Yahweh, you won’t come across Adonai in English Bible translations. Adonai is translated in English Bible as “the Lord,” and Yahweh is translated as “the LORD.” The difference is Adonai with capital “L” with lowercases “ord” while Yahweh is translated with all capitalized “LORD.” However, when Adonai and Yahweh occur together (some 213 times in Ezekiel), instead of translating it as “the Lord the LORD,” English translations seek to differentiate for clarity. So, you will find in NIV, Adonai Yahweh is translated as “The Sovereign LORD.”

This helps us know that Adonai translated as “the Lord” and “Sovereign” speaks to the reality of God as One who has authority to reign over his creation, his people, namely us.

Brueggemann in his book Hopeful Imagination said,

The key to Ezekiel’s proclamation of God is this: God will not be mocked.  God will not be presumed upon, trivialized, taken for granted, or drawn too close.  God takes being God with utmost seriousness… God refuses to stay where God is not honored.[i]

• Can you think of ways that you may have presumed upon, trivialized, taken for granted, mocked Adonai, dishonored the Lord?
• Read Ezekiel 33:31-32… there is direct correlation between knowing God as Adonai, the Lord and how we hear and respond to his word. You can hear Adonai when you read his word or hear sermons. When you hear because you’ve read Adonai’s word or have heard sermons, then you have opportunities to put God’s word into practice. Share how you are doing with this.
• Read Ezekiel 37:4-5… What is the crucial step to receiving breath that gives life for dry bones in this passage? What are you doing about it to ensure that you hear God’s word?

Commit to hear from Adonai and put his word into practice…

Ezekiel ends with the vision of the new city in the future and the name of the city will be known as “THE LORD IS THERE” (Ezekiel 48:35).

Imagine when people observe your life, they realize with you “THE LORD IS THERE.” Imagine people seeing the reality of Adonai, the Lord, in how you think, how you speak, how you react in good times and bad times, how you made decisions, how you relate, how you do your life. This will happen when you commit to hear from Adonai and put his word into practice.

Make a concrete plan on how you intend to get to know Adonai by reading his word and putting it into practice.

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[i] Walter Brueggemann, Hopeful imagination: prophetic voices in exile, Fortress Press, 1986, p. 53-54.

Adonai Yahweh, the Sovereign Lord, Ezekiel 37

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon, June 14 2009

Elohim the Creator God, El-Shaddai God Almighty of all-sufficiency, El-Roi God who sees, Yahweh the personal and ineffable name of holy God who exits, who is pained by our sins, who redeems us from our sins through his sacrifice ultimately his Son Jesus Christ… Each name captures certain aspects of God’s attributes and lets us know little bit more about who God is. Today, I would like to introduce to you another name God is known in the Bible, Adonai which means “the Lord.” In the Old Testament of our English Bibles, it is translated as “the Lord,” with capital “L” followed with lowercase “ord.”

1. Knowing God Adonai Yahweh, the Sovereign Lord

I was quite overwhelmed to say the least to study the names that our God is known in the Bible. I had a particularly hard time narrowing down the vast scope of what the name Adonai represents in the Bible. If you recall, the personal name Yahweh was considered ineffable by the Jews meaning that in fear of misusing his name, Yahweh was not to be pronounced. So, Jews has substituted Adonai whenever they came across the personal name Yahweh in the Old Testament, which happens to be more than 6800 times. Whenever you read the capital letter “L” followed with small capital “ORD” in English Bibles, it is translators’ attempt to reflect this tradition of substituting Adonai with Yahweh.

According to TDOT, there are 499 actual occurrences of Adonai in the O. T., which as I mentioned spelled with “L” capitalized and “ord” in lowercases. Further, among these, Adonai occurs alone 134 times and with Yahweh 315 times, mostly in the order of Adonai Yahweh with only five times in the order of Yahweh Adonai.[1] And, I learned that of these some 213 times Adonai Yahweh occur together in the book of Ezekiel. So, after overcoming my initial feeling of being overwhelmed, I’ve narrowed down the study of God’s name Adonai to the book of Ezekiel. I mention these details about the occurrence of Adonai not so that you remember how often Adonai occurs in the Bible, literally or as in substituted pronunciation for Yahweh, but to help you understand how prominently God is known as the Lord in the Bible and the implication for us.

Andrew Jukes says it best,

In nothing more therefore than in the confession or denial of this name do we see the radical contrast between the Church and the world.  The Church is church because it acknowledges relationship: the world is world because in practice it denies it.  The great mark of the elect is that they "know the LORD," while the world yet knows Him not, and acts as far as may be in independence of Him.  The world's way is to do as it likes, think as it likes, speak as it likes, without regard to any higher will above it.[2]

What is going to set you and me as Christians apart from the rest of the world is that you and I know God as Adonai, the Lord, and we depend on him, think, speak and act as he likes with full regard to his will for us.

2. Adonai Yahweh, the Sovereign Lord will not be mocked.

As I mentioned I discovered that Adonai occurs some 213 times next to Yahweh as in Adonai Yahweh in the book of Ezekiel. In NIV, Adonai Yahweh is translated as Sovereign Lord. In other places, Adonai is translated as the Lord with capital “L” with lowercases “ord,” and Yahweh with capital “LORD.” And, instead of translating Adonai Yahweh as the Lord LORD, the decision was made to use the meaning, “Sovereign” in place of the Lord to translate Adonai for clarification.[3]

So, when you read Ezekiel, you will come across this phrase in varying shapes repeating, “this is what the Sovereign LORD says.” When God communicates to his people, he wants us to know that he is Adonai, the Lord, the Sovereign One. God by declaring to us Adonai Yahweh, the Sovereign Lord, he wants us to acknowledge his intense majesty and his greatness along with the deep awareness of us belonging to him. So, you find David declaring in Psalm 57:9-10, “I will praise you, O Lord [Adonai], among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.  For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies."[4]

In the book of Ezekiel, a division is clearly observed before the exile and after the exile. Before the exile, what you see is Ezekiel, as a priest zealously, tirelessly, fearlessly delivering tough message of warnings to Judah what was going to take place if they were to persist in mocking Adonai Yahweh, the Sovereign Lord. In those days, in the entrance to the north gate of the inner court of the temple stood the idol and it is said that this provoked God to jealousy (Ezekiel 8:3) and that the utterly detestable things the house of Israel was doing would drive Adonai Yahweh far from his sanctuary (Ezekiel 8:6). Brueggemann writes,

“The key to Ezekiel’s proclamation of God is this: God will not be mocked.  God will not be presumed upon, trivialized, taken for granted, or drawn too close.  God takes being God with utmost seriousness… God refuses to stay where God is not honored.”[5]

So, we read in Ezekiel 9:3, “Now the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the cherubim, where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple.…” and later Ezekiel 10:18, “Then the glory of the LORD departed from over the threshold of the temple…”

Before, we can fully understand God as God of grace, we must understand and know and speak to God who is Adonai, the Lord, Sovereign One who cannot be reduced and boxed, mocked into our convenience. The Adonai, the Sovereign One would not be treated like 7-Eleven stop, not a person of all-authority, but like a place that exits sorely for our convenience. The Adonai, the Sovereign One would not be treated like an abandoned warehouse with nobody in it.

The book of Ezekiel ends with the great vision of the new city of Jerusalem. Ezekiel 48:35 says, “the name of the city from that time on will be: THE LORD [Yawheh] IS THERE.” The Adonai the Sovereign One with his eyes ranges throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him (1 Chronicles 16:9). When people see us, when people see our friends, our family, our church, will they say, “THE LORD IS THERE”? Do people see the glory of the Adonai dwelling when they observe you and me? If we mock Adonai by treating him like 7-eleven stop or an abandoned warehouse, if we give ourselves to idolatry that is in Brueggemann’s words when “belief is assigned to unworthy and unworkable objects,” that is when we make “attempts, misguided attempts, to secure” our lives with anything other than the Adonai, can we say, “THE LORD IS THERE” with us?

3. When you reject Adonai Yahweh, the Sovereign LORD’s call to repent…

Before we can understand God’s presence, his abiding grace, we must pay attention to the Adonai Yahweh, the Sovereign LORD, who calls us to repent and the consequence of rejecting his call.

• Ezekiel 14:6, “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord [Adonai Yahweh] says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!’”
• Ezekiel 18:30-32, “Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign LORD [Adonai Yahweh]. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses: then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declare the Sovereign LORD [Adonai Yahweh]. Repent and live!”

But, the sad thing was Ezekiel, the priest turned to prophet, his passionate, zealous, and tough warning from Adonai Yahweh, the Sovereign LORD fell to the deaf ears of the Israelites. The warning from Adonai Yahweh through the mouth of Ezekiel became the tragic reality. Ezekiel 33:21, a report had reached Ezekiel, “The city has fallen!”

The city of Jerusalem once a dwelling place of Adonai Yahweh, since his glory, his presence departed the temple, the city, remained only as an empty shell of the past glory, only to be shattered in death. Here is why the city fell according to Adonai.

Ezekiel 33:31-32, “My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice. With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. Indeed to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and places an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice.”

Essentially, the report that “The city has fallen!” transports us to some 600 years in to the future to the Friday when Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross where all rejection of Adonai Yahweh’s call and pretense and fake devotion will face judgment of death. Our sins, our rebellion, our pretence take us back to the Friday when Jesus was crucified. There he died our death. There he was striped and pierced for our punishment.

4. When Adonai Yahweh, the Sovereign LORD breathes life in you…

When there seemed to be no more hope, out of ashes, out of the stench and terror of death, the new prophetic vision and voice of hope came from Adonai the Sovereign Lord to Ezekiel for the exiles.

Ezekiel 37:1-3, In the middle of a valley… full of bones… bones that were dry, was the voice from Adonai, “can these bones live?” Ezekiel answered,

“O Sovereign LORD [Adonai Yahweh], you alone know.” To this Adonai told Ezekiel to prophesy, “Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD [Yahweh]! … I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD [Yahweh]” (Ezekiel 37:5-6).

When the vision became reality, Adonai interpreted the vision for Ezekiel. People were saying in the utter destruction of their city that their bones were derived up and hope was gone; they were cut off (Ezekiel 37:11). Another word, they were as good as dead. The death on the Friday Jesus died was heavy that sinks one’s soul to hell. Adonai Yahweh the Sovereign LORD’s word came to the hopelessly crushed, sinking, and dead souls,

“O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them. I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people will know that I am the LORD [Yahweh], when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD [Yahweh] have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD [Yahweh]” (Ezekiel 37:12-14).

On that fateful Friday, Philippians 2:9-11tell us ,

"God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."  

Adonai Yahweh, the Sovereign LORD, we see the face of God when we look upon the cross where Jesus Christ who died. But death could not hold him back as dry bones could not remain dead dry. In Jesus Christ, Yehoshua, we see Yahweh who saves. In Jesus Christ, we experience the breath of the Holy Spirit resurrecting us from death. In Jesus Christ, Lord, we now experience Adonai, the Lord, to whom we must bow our knees and confess to the glory of God the Father..

5. Conclusion

Here are the summaries of what we learn from the fact that God is Adonai Yahweh, the Sovereign LORD.

• Knowing God as the Sovereign LORD, Adonai Yahweh sets us apart from the world
• Adonai Yahweh will not be mocked.
• When we reject Adonai Yahweh’s call to repent…
• When Adonai Yahweh breathes in you…

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[1] TDOT, Volume 1, p. 63.

[2] Andrew Jukes, p. 113-114

[3] It combines the word for “sovereign” with God’s actual name, combining a sense of privilege and nearness in knowledge of God’s name with a sense of awesomeness because the name itself suggests something of the unpredictable enigma of the active presence of Yahweh (James D. G. Dunn, Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible, Wm. B. Eerdmans. 2003. 624).

[4] Adonai is correctly described as the name of personal communication between the believer and God.  In such communication the worshiper acknowledged God's intense majesty and greatness and also the sense of belonging to this God.  Adonai, coming from human lips, expressed honor for God and humble submission on the part of the believing person.  Adonai, thus, is the name that expresses faith, assurance, security, ready service, and thanksgiving (Ps 16:2; Psalm 57:9-10) (Tyndale Bible Dictionary, 2001, p. 542); Adonai is often accompanied by expression like "Sebaoth," which further emphasize in particular the excelling majesty of this Lord of all and stress is in this way (Isaiah 3:15, 10:24), (TDOT, p. 70); Amos, Isaiah, Ezekiel... their preaching emphasizes the majestic exalation of their God, use Adonai in conjuction with such expressions depiciting his omnipotence more often than other propehets. (TDOT, p 70); Adonai Yahweh... Adonai emphasizes God's sovereignty; Yahweh emphasizes His eternal existence and character as the God of covenant, history, and ethics (King James Version Study Bible).

[5] Walter Brueggemann, Hopeful imagination: prophetic voices in exile, Fortress Press, 1986, p. 53-54.

sermon jam... Treasuring Him!

john piper's sermon into jam session... cool

Life application on El Roi, God who sees

One of the things that set apart David from Saul was that David inquired of the LORD [Yahweh] because he wanted to follow God’s will for him (c.f. 1 Samuel 23:4, 30:8, 2 Samuel 2:1, 5:19, 5:23). In this way David was a man after God’s heart (1 Samuel 13:14) who waited for God to make things clear for him before he acted because he valued God’s opinion over his own or anyone else’s opinion.

We get into spiritual problems when we take shortcuts thinking that El Roi, God who sees us, is too slow to act and we or other people are smarter to know what to do with our own lives now than El Roi, God who sees. Has Instant gratification, demand for results and productivity, and pride blinded us to the virtue of waiting on El Roi, God who sees?

Taking shortcuts in spiritual journey is antithesis to the journey Jesus wants us to be on, through the small gate and on the narrow road that leads to life, that only a few find it (Matthew 7:14). The consequence of taking shortcuts in spiritual journey is that we become fools who cannot see El Roi God who sees us, who notices us and cares for us.

Read Genesis 16 and …

Consider the two stories, one of Abram and Sarai, the other of Hagar.

• Describe Abram and Sarai’s sins in this passage.
• How did their sins prevent them from seeing God, El Roi, God who sees?

In contrast, Hagar was able to see El Roi, God who sees at work in her life.

• What sets Hagar apart from the attitude of Abram and Sarai?
• What insight do you have about God in the way he interacted with Hagar?

Personalize

• What does it look like for you to take shortcuts impatiently instead of waiting on El-Roi, God who sees?
• Share your experience of meeting El Roi as Hagar did.
• What does it mean for you that God is El Roi, God who sees?

Pray

• Ask God to instill in you the patient obedience of Christ instead of taking shortcuts godlessly.
• Ask God to experience more of him as El Roi, God who sees, who searches you and knows you, who knows you when you sit and when you rises, who discerns your going out and your lying down, who is familiar with all your ways (Psalm 139:1-3).

El Roi, God who sees (Genesis 16)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon, June 7 2009

Genesis 16:13, "She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me."

When I read the Bible and consider people like Enoch who walked with God, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, the prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Judges like Deborah, queen Esther, or Ruth, the psalmists like Asaph and even David, or Paul and the other apostles, when I consider these great people of faith and how they had experienced God breaking into their lives with power, deliverance, blessing, and purpose in life, I feel kind of insignificantly small. By seeing them, hearing them, responding to them, acting on behalf of them, God has personally stepped into each of their lives and allowed them to walk in his light, his salvation. God blessed and protected them; he made his face shine upon them, was gracious to them, turned his face toward them, gave them peace and bless them (Numbers 6:24-27). In the Bible story line, these are all big characters and God saw them through in their lives.

I know that I am not insignificant to God. I know that. But, there are times when I feel small. Do you ever feel this way about yourself, small, invisible, and unnoticed? After all, in the grand scheme of human history, likelihood of any of us making into the top 100 list of anything in the world is quite remote. Surely, wouldn’t God pay closer attention to the big name Christians like Billy Graham, Bill Hybels, Rick Warren, Nancy Demoss, Beth Moore…

The truth is our God has commanded, “Do not show partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike,” (Deuteronomy 1:17), “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great but judge your neighbor fairly,’ (Leviticus 19:15), “My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism” (James 2:1). And, Deuteronomy 10:17-18 says this about God, “For the LORD [Yahweh] your God [Elohim] is God [Elohim] of gods and Lord [Adonai] of lords, the great God [El], mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.”

Psalm 94:8-9 says, "Take heed, you senseless ones among the people; you fools, when will you become wise? Does he who implanted the ear not hear?  Does he who formed the eye not see?" The LORD [Yahweh] knows the thoughts of man; he knows that they are futile.” Psalmist likens fools, the wicked as senseless ones who see not with their eyes and hear not with their ears, unlike the LORD [Yahweh] who sees and hears us, who knows us.

If there were ever doubts in your heart if God sees you, if God notices you, I would like you to come away from today’s message that God sees you, God notices you even when you don’t feel like he does see you and notice you. Listen to these passages that talk about Yahweh who sees.

• Proverbs 15:3, "The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good." 
• Hebrews 4:13, "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.  Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."
• 2 Chronicles 16:9, "For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him..."
• Exodus 3:7, "The LORD said, 'I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt.  I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.'"

1. When long spiritual journey towards obedience gets diverted by your sinful shortcuts…

Last week, we touched on the story of Abraham and Sarah in learning God’s name, El-Shaddai, God Almighty of all-sufficiency from Genesis 17 and briefly touched on chapter 16. Today, I would like us to revisit and consider the story that is unfolded in Genesis 16.

My goal in life is to foremost be the one who would finish the long spiritual journey blamelessly and purely in obedience to Christ’s mercy and grace; yes there will be shortcomings and sins along the way, but as a forgiven sinner, I want the trajectory of my spiritual journey to be that of constantly being purified, sanctified in upward curve in growing obedience and affection for God. I want to lead my wife, my children to the same goal. I want to lead you to this long spiritual journey toward obedience.

The problem happens when you and I get diverted from this long spiritual journey toward obedience by shortcuts we take. That’s what happened to Abram and Sarai in Genesis 16. In chapter 15, Abram had an amazing experience; God came to reaffirm his covenantal promise to Abram by a vision and physical demonstration. Genesis 15:12 says, “As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep…” and it says in 15:17, "When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoke firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.  On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram..." You would think that this would have cemented Abram’s long spiritual journey with firm faith in God’s all-sufficiency.

But, what we see in chapter 16 is Abram and Sarai being distracted and diverted from their long spiritual journey toward obedience by their choice to take sinful shortcut. You know the story from last week how Sarai urged Abram to take the shortcut by having a child through her Egyptian maidservant, Hagar. Hughes suggests that Sarai's intervention and Abraham's agreeing to her, their shortcut may have delayed God’s promise for them for 13 years.[1]

Who is the principal person to be blamed for taking this sinful shortcut? According to Genesis 16:5, Sarai seemed to think that Abram was to be blamed; she said, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering… May the LORD judge between you and me.” Of course the whole truth is that Sarai needed to take responsibility for her own failure. But, speaking of the principal responsibility, Sarai was right in that it was Abram’s responsibility to lead his wife towards blameless and purity. Speaking of families, I am directly responsible for the wellbeing of my wife and my children. We men must learn to take the attitude of Moses’ successor, Joshua’s attitude in Joshua 14:15, “… as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD [Yahweh].”

Kent Hughes says that shortcuts do not promote God's purpose.[2] He also calls Genesis 16 as "the first marital triangle in biblical history."[3] Shortcuts have consequences. Taking shortcut meant to treat Hagar as merely an object, a possession with no choice for self-determination as a maidservant. Taking shortcut meant having a child not of promise, but of their own making. Taking shortcut meant delayed fulfillment. Taking shortcut meant the lasting consequence that is still felt even today; evidenced by the conflicts in the Middle East between Muslims who are the descendants of Ishmael, a child of the shortcut and the Jews who are the descendants of Isaac, a promised child.

I want you to notice that there is no mention of God breaking into the scene where Abram and Sarai took their shortcut in bearing a child through Hagar. Sarai mentioned God in 16:2, but it only showed how her perception of God was all wrong. God didn’t break into the scene until later time with Hagar. God didn’t show up when Abram and Sarai were taking the sinful shortcut. When we allow our long spiritual journey towards finishing the race be diverted by taking shortcuts, we don’t see God at work. We become fools who cannot see and who cannot hear! If we don’t see God working in our life, if we don’t think God sees us or notices us, we must consider that it might be because we’ve been taking sinful shortcuts away from the path of long spiritual journey with God.

Long spiritual journey towards obedience involves daily remembering who God is, what he has done, what he is doing in your life today and what he will do through Bible reading and prayer. If you are not reading God’s word daily, if you are not talking to him daily, throughout each day, it is unlikely that you would remember your Elohim, your Creator, your Yahweh, the holy and relational Redeemer, El-Shaddai, God Almighty of all-sufficiency and El-Roi, God who sees you. You don’t read God’s word and you don’t talk or listen to him, then you become a senseless fool who forget God who sees you. When you in your senselessness forget God who sees you, you will take shortcuts. When you take shortcuts and divert yourself from the long spiritual journey, you will reap painful consequences as Abram and Sarai did. Nobody can force you to read God’s word, to talk and listen to God. It is your responsibility to seek God’s dwelling, his presence by reading his word, talking and listening to him daily.

2. El Roi God who sees

As I have mentioned to you already God’s presence was conspicuously absent when Abram and Sarai took the shortcut. But, I want you to notice how God broke his silence and showed up for Hagar.

A Slave: Metropolitan Museum of Art 2009-1998 B.CE. Painted Wood, 44 1/8 inches tall, Tomb of Mekutra, Thebes Dorman 1987:28.

The Chief Steward and Chancellor Meketrê, or Mehenkwetrê, was buried at Thebes, in the hillside to the south of the mortuary temple of Mtuhotep II.

Wooden statues of the slaves who worked his estate were recovered from his tomb. Hagar, who was the Egyptian slave of Sarah, may have resembled this slave of Meketre.[4]

Yes, it is true that Hagar massed up by letting her pride get in the way when she despised Sarai as we see in Sarai’s words in Genesis 16:4. In the ancient culture, having children, especially having sons was a mark of success for wives. And, for this Sarai was deemed a failure.[5] Having conceived Abram’s child while her master Sarai wasn’t able to, instead of remaining humble, in pride, she looked down on Sarai. And, Sarai knew it and it roused angry jealousy.

Yes, it is true that Hagar became proud. But, it is also true that Sarai mistreated Hagar. Sarai needed to own up to her part in creating the massy martial triangle. In her anger, jealousy, harshness, Sarai went about to make Hagar life miserable. The problem wasn’t Hagar really. The problem was Sarai herself along with Abram taking the shortcut. The problem was her unconfessed sin which manifested in jealousy and anger.

What did Abram do? Genesis 16:6, “Do with her whatever you think best.” If I paraphrase it, I could imagine Abram saying something like, “Well, I don’t know! I don’t really care what you do with her. You deal with her since you told me to have a baby with her!” Ouch, here is Abram again taking the back seat instead of taking responsibility to lead his family!

Anyway, dejected, pushed out and unloved, Hagar saw no other way out then to flee. That’s what we do when we don’t have God in the picture. When conflicts arise, when you and I don’t have the ongoing close connection with God, the last thing we will try to do is to become peacemaker; without God, we either attack like Sarai did or we take off, avoid like Hagar did.

Pregnant, driven out in misery, nothing to look forward to, she wandered in the desert near a spring. I wonder what Hagar was thinking as she wandered away. I don’t know, but I am sure she felt crushed, broken and lost, trying to make sense of what was happening to her life and to her child. And, this is precisely when according to Genesis 16:7-8, “The angel of the LORD found Hagar.” And, there he spoke to her, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” To this she replied, “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai.” Hagar was then told to go back to Sarai and to submit to her.

Do you see what’s going on here? God showed up through his angel to brokenhearted Hagar. Psalm 34:18 says, "The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." True to his word, it wasn’t Hagar who found God, it was God who found her and spoke into her life. She felt like nothing, unloved, noticed… and here was God speaking through his angel, “You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD [Yahweh] has heard of your misery.” Ishmael means God hears. Every time she or anyone called her son, Ishmael, she now could remember how God who sees met her. She was not unnoticed, unloved, uncared. God saw her; he noticed her. God saw her in the desert by the spring. God heard of her misery. And, God showed up and he spoke into her life for healing. And, he laid out a path to restore her by revealing himself to her as God who sees, God takes notices people like Hagar who feel unnoticed, forgotten and abandoned, who feels invisible, small and insignificant with broken hearts.

Perhaps, you think that it is strange that God would have her go back to Sarai who mistreated her. But, do you remember what I said about why she was fleeing the conflict? Without ongoing intimate connection with God, we have no resource within us to become peacemakers. Hagar ran out of steam without God. Now, having met God, instead of continuing on the path of pride, bitterness, depression, she now could choose the path of humility, restoration, and hope.

1 Peter 2:18-20 says, "Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh... if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God." What we see here is God who is more interested in developing Christ-like character in us then having the problem go away. God who sees us is God who will see us become like Christ. God knows that the best way to develop long suffering, Christ-like humility is not the path that leads us away from conflicts, but staying in conflicts and to become humble peacemakers with his help. Barnhouse writes, “If we seek to change our circumstances, we will jump from the frying pan into the fire. We must be triumphant exactly where we are. It is not a change of climate we need, but a change of heart. The flesh wants to run away, but God wants to demonstrate His power exactly where we have known our greatest challenge.”[6]

Genesis 16:13 tells us that she gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her, “You are God who sees me,” El-Roi, God who sees! And, the well where she met the angel of the LORD was called as Beer-lahai-roi meaning the well of the Living One who sees me.

Genesis 16:15 tells us that Hagar returned as was told. And, we see that Abram gave the name Ishmael. Hagar returned and told Abram her testimony of meeting Yahweh, El-Roi, God who saw her and who told her to return and submit to Sarai. Abram recognized that indeed her encounter was a genuine meeting with God, so he named his son as given to Hagar by the angel of the LORD, Ishmael, God who hears.

3. Conclusion

Here is what I want you to remember today.

• Read and pray everyday to remember El-Roi, God who sees you. Without daily reminder of God through reading of his word and communing with him, you will forget God is El-Roi, God who sees you. When you forget El-Roi, you will take shortcuts while relying on your own self-sufficiency instead of relying on God Almighty, El-Shaddai, your God of all-sufficiency. When you take shortcuts instead of waking in the long spiritual journey towards obedience and trust in Christ, you will face consequences as Abram and Sarai did. Yes, when you turn, God will be there for you, but you will still have to deal with the consequences of having taken shortcuts as Abram and Sarai did.
• God is far more interested in developing Christ-like character in you then to have your problems go away. When you are caught in conflicts, trials, difficulties, understand that El-Roi notices you, he cares for you, he sees you. God who sees you will come and work in you so that you will know joy in Jesus Christ regardless of circumstances you may find yourself.

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[1] R. Ken Hughes, Genesis: Beginning and Blessing. Good News Publishers, 2004. p. 243.

[2] Ibid., p. 243.

[3] Ibid., p. 237.

[4] Don C. Benjamin, The Old Testament Story; An Introduction, Fortress Press, 2004.

[5] Ibid., p. 238.

[6] Donald Grey Barnhouse, Genesis: A Devotional Exposition. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984

Life application on El-Shaddai, God Almighty of all-sufficiency

El-Shaddai is translated in English Bibles as God Almighty. The name captures the attribute of God who is all sufficient in his power to carry out his will according to his nature. According to Exodus 6:3, God appeared to Abraham as God Almighty, El-Shaddai. Consider Abraham’s spiritual journey in different stages of his life and see how he came to know God as El-Shaddai, God Almighty of all-sufficiency.

Great Start: Read Genesis 12:1-9 and consider when Abraham met God at the age of 75 when he was known as Abram.

• From the promises God made with Abram at the age of 75 in verse 2-3, to make him a great nation, to bless him, to make his name great, to make him a source of blessing for all people, what attribute do you see in God?
• From what God told Abram and the way he responded to God, how would you describe Abram’s faith?

Testing: Read Genesis 12:10-20 and consider how Abram acted in Egypt.

• What do you think motivated Abram to pretend Sarai was his sister?
• What does this say about his faith in God?

Read Genesis 16:1-4 when Abram was about 86 years old.

• What does the action Abram and Sarai took to have a child say about their faith in God?

Purified faith: Read Genesis 17:1-10; 17:15-21. El-Shaddai gave his promises to Abraham at 75 years old. Now at the age of 99, God came and reaffirmed his promises to Abram and solidified his promises by changing Abram and Sarai’s names to Abraham and Sarah and through circumcisions.

• Why do you think God waited 25 years to give Abraham and Sarah a child to begin fulfilling his promises?
• Abraham had feeling of doubt in 17:17 and yet we see him undergoing circumcision in obedience in 17:23-27. Can you draw a spiritual principle from this?

Life application

• Share your testimonies when you have experienced God’s all-sufficiency.
• God uses our pains, trials, waiting, fears, and doubts in our spiritual journey to perfect our weak faith in his all-sufficiency. Pray together to know him deeper as your El-Shaddai.

Philippians 4:19, “And my God will meet all your needs according to glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”