We Will See YOU

“I feel seen.”

A couple of years ago a young woman said this to me, and I could tell by her emotion that these words meant more to her than what my brain was thinking. My initial thought was, “I’m looking right at you, so of course, you are seen.” Any overly literal people out there? Then I snapped back to the conversation and realized that what she was communicating is that there’s a difference in being looked at and being seen.

Hagar, a servant who got pregnant with Abram in complicated circumstances ran away due to the jealousy and wrath of Sarai (Abram’s first wife). And while sitting alone and desperate, God sends an angel to minister life to her, to give her hope for her future and her child to come. Hagar feels seen.

Genesis 16:13 says, “So Hagar gave this name to the LORD who had spoken to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “Here I have seen the One who sees me!”

God is given the name Jehovah El-Roi. In Hebrew, it means, “the one who sees”. This servant girl, most likely to be invisible even in the rooms she inhabited, is seen by the one who matters most, God. And as she flees to the desert, she never leaves His radar. God will see you even when you think you’re “off the grid.”

It really doesn’t matter who does or doesn’t see you. It doesn’t matter who follows, friends, comments, or likes you. What matters is that God sees you. And He is an expert not just spotting individuals but “seeing them”, whether they’re out in the desert or hidden in a crowd. He saw Zaccheus. He saw the woman with the issue of blood. He saw the woman at the well. He SEES.

We will see it. That’s our theme for Radiant 2022. But make no mistake, we will see it, because we believe that He will see us. We aren’t just trying to pull off an event, we are creating an atmosphere that invites the presence of God to see us and to truly transform us.

As a college sophomore, I was devastated from watching my father unexpectedly die while he was preaching on a Palm Sunday morning. I was emotionally dead, going through the motions of life, but I knew from experience that the presence of God could resurrect my dead self. I determined to place myself in every church service that my church offered, to continue to devote myself to His word and prayer. I know the power of coming together in worship that invites God’s presence. Then one Sunday in September 1988, six long months after the tragedy that marked me, God’s presence transformed me. I showed up and I was seen by God. He did for me in one moment what would have taken years of counseling (and I’m pro counseling!)

That’s my prayer for everyone who comes to Radiant this year. For you. For your friends, co-workers, family. For those who need to be resurrected in their faith. For those who need to experience Jesus for the first time. You can’t sit this one out. I believe that at this year’s Radiant, we will see you leave differently than you came. I believe that when we see you this year, you will say like Hagar, “Here I have seen the One who sees me!”

We will see YOU….come expecting God to see you too.