God Sees

In our society there is an increasing preoccupation with access to information. Anything that is held on a computer file about me, I am entitled to see. In these days of electronic communication in an age of information there is increasing concern that people will know more about us than we would like them to know.

God's all-seeing eye

• The Bible tells us is that God knows everything about us, because He sees into our very hearts (1 Samuel 16:7; John 2:24-25).
  
  
• Not only is everything laid bare before Him, but we are accountable to Him (Hebrews 4:13).
  
  
• If my thoughts, motives and faults are visible to the One to whom I am accountable, then my prospects are not good.

But when we approach the Lord as His children, conscious of our own failures and imperfections, and of the fact that He can see all these and more, what we find is that His total awareness of us is for our benefit rather than our hurt. This operates in three ways.

1. God's awareness is the source of my support

• The Lord Jesus, when He was on earth, was tempted just as we are (Hebrews 4:15).
  
  
• As a result He can support and deal gently with us when we are experiencing weakness (Hebrews 5:2).
  
  
• When we come to the Lord we come with all our guilt exposed. He can see it all, so our fundamental need is for mercy, and even if we receive mercy we still have no hope of overcoming sin in our lives on our own, so we need grace. Both are offered (Hebrews 4:16).

The Lord looks into the heart of our lives and He sees the pressures, the hang-ups we have inherited, the damage that life has caused us. He sees our frailty totally. Thus He can offer us support in our time of need—perhaps deliverance from a situation or strength to go through it.

2. God's awareness is the source of my vindication
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells His disciples that they should not be like the Pharisees who do “religious” things ostentatiously for men to see.

• But, when they give money to the needy, or pray, they should do it in secret.
  
  
• Then “your Father” Jesus says, “who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:18).
  
  
• This has applicability, not just to “religious” behaviour, but to daily life – e.g.
  
  
• When we do our work conscientiously for Him when no one can see us and do not take the dishonest short cuts our colleagues take, then He is watching.
• When we speak the truth in a situation where it is not going to be to our best advantage, and lose out as a result, then He is watching.
• When we are unjustly blamed for something and don't lash out in return, then He is watching.
  
  

This is a tremendous incentive to work at living a really consistent life: the fact that my true motives are seen and noted by the One to whom I am accountable.

3. God's awareness is the source of my security
God's intimate knowledge of the individual is illustrated by the Lord's statement that not even a sparrow can fall to the ground apart from the will of the Father (Matthew 10:29)

• He sees it and can intervene.
  
  
• And, Jesus adds, “you are worth more than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:31).
  
  
• We are the children of a loving, omnipresent Father who knows what is best for us.
  
  
• God's ability to see everything is a basis for my eternal security.
  
  

The situation of the man or woman who is in Christ is a very secure one. We are constantly under the eye of our heavenly Father.

• When times of testing and trial come, as they will, He recognises our frailty and will be there to support us and make sure that it does not go beyond what we can bear.
  
  
• When we choose to do what Jesus would have done in a situation, even when it disadvantages us, He sees and rewards faithfulness like that.
  
  
• Ultimately nothing can harm us because the One who sees everything works in every situation for our good as His children.