“The Lord is watching everywhere, keeping his eye on both the evil and the good.” Proverbs 15:3 NLT
Did your mother ever tell you, “God is always watching”? It is true. What may seem inescapable as a child can also be comforting. It also gets quite convicting as a teen. I couldn’t explain it as a child, but I did have a sense that someone, somewhere was watching over me and watching out for me. It was a benevolent, secure feeling when I was growing up. I did not have a sense that an ominous being was hovering about watching and waiting for me to do wrong and send punishments from above. I could only understand kindness.
This was helpful when I was fifteen and a nonverbal voice spoke to me and offered me life and a promise. God offered to be my Dad if I gave Him my life. The reason I recognized this voice, this feeling, was directly connected to the idea that someone had kept me from great harm while going through a traumatic and chaotic childhood. I wasn’t necessarily a good boy or even an evil boy. It was much simpler than that. I was invisible and lost. The Lord who keeps watch over the invisible was the only one who really saw me.
If you feel invisible or lost, I can assure you – God sees you. And, He knows you, from before you began and throughout eternity. David in the Psalms wrote, “If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there.” So it is both comforting and convicting to know that God sees us in our evil choices as well as good ones. I think it’s best to keep our attention on just us, not focusing on others. It does no good to compare our own evils or good with others. That comparison is detrimental to us and the person we are comparing to. Knowing that God sees all, even to the level of our thoughts and motivations, we should just concern ourselves with how God feels about us – ignoring what everyone may think.
When we are good, or obedient to what God wants, of course He is pleased. And when we are evil, or disobedient, He is not pleased with our choices or behavior. However, His love and mercy are always towards us and He disciplines those He loves. There are natural consequences to our choices and behaviors as well as God’s supernatural intervention to bring us or keep us to the narrow path of salvation.
Without knowing anyone’s story, or their past. Without knowing their struggles and pains. It is impossible to judge or compare our lives to each other. This makes God’s justice and judgement perfect to each and every human soul. God sees and knows us individually and intimately.
Prayer
Dad,
I love that this Proverb captures the truth and it is all I have ever known. When I do good, you see. It does not matter if anyone else sees it. And, conversely, when I do evil, you also see, but I would definitely not want anyone else to see! Even knowing you see me, has not prevented me from evil, selfish choices. That really bothers me and it’s puzzling to figure out why I still choose to do it. There is no good nor evil that can be hidden from you. I love for you to see my good choices and loath to think of you watching my evil choices. I have cursed my own humanity to be in that bind. I am constantly in need of your grace and mercy. It is helpful, but humbling to know that you see me through the work of Christ and His payment for my sins. Yet, I must believe or be crushed by the disappointment I bring before You when I chosen to do evil. Thank you for your gift of undeserved favor!