THE INVISIBLE GIRL AND EL ROI
Mother’s Day
Mike Geppert
Woodland Church
Sunday, May 10, 2026
(Genesis 16:1-15, NIV) “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.” “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her. The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered. Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.” The angel of the Lord also said to her: “You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” 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.” That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered. So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne.”
I. THE INVISIBLE GIRL
(Genesis 16:1, NIV) “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar”
(Psalm 142:4, NIV) “Look and see, there is no one at my right hand; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life.”
A. THE PAIN OF BEING INVISIBLE
1. Invisible because of life – not her fault
2. Invisible because she was used – not her fault
3. Invisible because of bad choices – maybe her fault
(1 Samuel 1:1-2, NIV) “There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.”
(1 Kings 19:3, NIV) “Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there”
(John 4:7, NIV) “When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”
(Luke 19:1-2, NIV) “Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.”
II. GOD’S AMBER ALERT
(Genesis 16:7, NIV) “The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.”
(Luke 19:10, NIV) “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
A. THE GRACE OF BEING SOUGHT
1. God searches for the invisible
2. God knows exactly where to find you
3. God calls you by name
(1 Samuel 1:10-16, NIV) “In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.” As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.” “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”
(1 Kings 19:6-7, NIV) “He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.”
(John 4:7, NIV) “When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”
(Luke 19:5, NIV) “When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”
III. EL ROI
(Genesis 16:13, NIV) “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.”
(Isaiah 49:14-16, NIV) “But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.” “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.”
A. THE POWER OF BEING SEEN
1. El Roi sees what others miss
2. El Roi sees beyond your failure
3. El Roi sees the one hiding
(1 Samuel 1:19, NIV) “…the Lord remembered her”
(1 Kings 19:18, NIV) “Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”
(John 4:26, NIV) “Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
(Luke 19:9-10, NIV) “Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
(Matthew 8:3, NIV) “Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.”
Growthwork
1. Remember God sees you
2. Remember to see yourself as God sees you
3. Remember to see the invisible – others – as God sees them