Lift Your Eyes: 10 Days of Beholding Christ in Motherhoodਨਮੂਨਾ

Day 4: The Lord Is the God Who Sees: Jehovah El Roi

He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
—Psalm 121:3

In Psalm 121:3, the psalmist affirms God’s watchful care over his children. He is a God who guards and keeps them; he never sleeps and never lets them out of his sight.

In the Old Testament, God revealed himself as El Roi—“the God who sees”—to a woman named Hagar. Hagar was an Egyptian servant who worked for Sarah, a woman unable to bear children. When Sarah doubted that God would provide the child he promised, she took matters into her own hands and asked Hagar to sleep with her husband, Abraham. But when Hagar became pregnant, Sarah mistreated her to the point that Hagar fled into the wilderness in desperation. Despite feeling alone and abandoned, Hagar was not hidden from God’s watchful eye, and he sent an angel to comfort her. After this encounter with the Lord, Hagar testified, “You are a God of seeing…Truly here I have seen him who looks after me” (Genesis 16:13).

This story reminds us that even in our lowest moments, when it feels like no one else sees us, God does. The work of motherhood often goes unseen. You may feel like no one is watching as you lovingly tend to scraped knees and hurt feelings, pack lunches day after day, or fold yet another load of laundry. But your Savior sees every big and small thing you do in secret.

Beyond just seeing, our God attends to us around the clock. He is always vigilant. He is a God who will “instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; [who] will counsel you with [his] eye upon you” (Psalm 32:8). He will not let your foot be moved even an inch off the path he set for you.

Whenever you doubt that God is there, remember Hagar’s story. Or when you feel unseen, remember that his eyes roam the earth, looking to strengthen those who are committed to him (2 Chronicles 16:9). He sees you. He knows you. And he has never, for a single moment, taken his eyes off you.