Unseen

El Roi — The God Who Sees

I think in this world where social media platforms allow so many to share their voices, there are still so many who feel …

…unseen…
…unheard…

Oh it’s one thing to hear someone say, “I love you” with shallow words and hasty endearments.

But when one stops, truly stops, and says,

“I see you.”
“I hear you.”

And truly stops to SEE YOU and take notice of what you are trying to show them…

When someone stops, to truly take the time to listen to what you are trying to convey, even without words…

You feel seen.
You feel heard.

But what do you do when you have given all you can to make a difference in your calling, your purpose, your talents… and still…

No one stops and takes notice?

It’s the little girl or boy saying, “mommy…daddy… look at me” as they vie for your attention and you barely look up with a quick response of acknowledgement and then back to your… scrolling.

It’s the senior citizen that once worked hard for their family, now gone and having moved on with their own lives, wondering where the time went.

It’s the young man, searching for hope in a bottle that soon runs dry, with no one to rescue him.

It’s the young lady, hoping to feel wanted, so she stops at nothing to get the attention of…someone…anyone…only to find herself used up by men who wanted nothing more than “live pornography” in their bed.

It’s not just a person.

It’s a place a person searches for in seeking purpose…

In things…
In places…
In audiences…
In the next big endeavor…

…That next book…
…That next car…
…That next job…
…That bank account…
…That next fix… gig… or night out…

Only to find that all these things are like sand in our hands…

Eventually the time runs out, so does the money, the fame, the popularity…the platform…

And what do you do when you either made it big or you didn’t even after giving it all you could, whatever “making it big” means to you?

Where do you go then?
When all has run dry?

Religion will not cut it.
The next gig will not fix it.
Money cannot buy it.

Dreams and hopes can only carry us for so long, because eventually they fade too.

It’s you left standing and the only thing staring back at you is faded memories and a tattered past of fruitless endeavors…

…even those endeavors that sustained you, because all material in this world fades eventually.

The only thing left is your legacy and perhaps if you choose well, you come to the realization that the One who wanted your attention all along has never left you.

That’s where I have found myself standing.

And kneeling in humble prayer.

With the cold realization that no one else, and nothing else in this life can give me validation.

I keep going back to this: El Roi.

The God Who sees me.

When I have sought value in the eyes of another, and saw their eyes glaze over as I spoke, or shared something new I had done…and even as I write that, I feel that sudden cold ache in my chest…

Knowing that my worth will never be…

can never be…

…found in another’s opinion, nor in the things I have sought to do or “work for” in order to feel valued in the eyes of another.

I call to mind that is a large part in why our works are not what get us home to Him… to Heaven …where none of this matters anyway…because our pride induced, fleeting successes or …failures …are just that…fleeting.

They cannot tell me I’ll ever be good enough to work my way into the presence of the only One who truly sees me anyway.

The God who sees me: El Roi.

I call on Him in prayer, in the only place I can be myself in all my vulnerabilities and tell Him of these things that cause me to feel worthless.

I was that one, seeking to feel as if I mattered in a world where so many feel they don’t.

I see it in those I love, who have lost their way.

I saw it in those who are no longer here.

I pray only to find my way back to the foot of the cross, that great equalizer…

… where we know that value is not found in what I can do or earn to be more important to God who I will stand before one day anyway.

Then I must ask myself, or ask God rather: “Lord, did I seek the most valuable gift I had available to me?”

“Did I seek YOU?”

“Have I truly given of MYSELF to YOU, who only wants intimacy in the secret place?”

That place with God where I know that I’m filled to overflowing and all those things I chase fade away and my worth is now made known to me by Him who “sees” me and “hears” my voice no matter what time it is, nor where I am located.

He even hears my faintest of sighs and bottles my every tear.

I do not write this for any reason but to share that if you have ever felt this way, there is an answer.

There is a place…
There is One who is always there…

…the secret place of prayer with God…

And He sees you.

Always.

• — Not just when you perform some significant feat.
• — Not just when you fail miserably.

He hears you.

• — Your every cry.
• — Your voice matters to Him.

He loves you, not in word alone but in deed…

He made sure His Word gave every detail of what you and I mean to Him.

And His life on this very earth as man, yet God in flesh, having been beaten, died and risen again, proves it.

I pray God alone is who my heart longs for when all else in this life fades away…

I pray I seek Him now while there is still time and while there is still sand in the hour glass of this life that the Word declares…is but a vapor…

“For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”

James 4:14