 An All-Seeing Eye
By Dean
Kelly
Do you
really believe that God exists, and is the
all-knowing, all-powerful Being Who knows the very number of hairs on
your
head? I will always remember it. I was in the first or second grade. My
mother
had told me that, because of an offense that I cannot remember (though
I do
remember that I was guilty of the infraction), I could not read any
books,
especially not comic books. You have to understand that reading was my
entertainment. We lived on a military base in Germany back in the early
60’s,
and there was no Armed Forces Television there yet. I would rather read
than go
outside and play. She did allow me to go outside. We lived on the third
floor
of the housing apartments. I went to the lowest balcony of a ground
floor
apartment and went up under it. It was like a cave under there, and I
was sure
no one could see me. I climbed into the safe cave, and pulled out my
comic
book, and settled down to read it. It was not long, however, until I
heard a
voice, and looked up to see my mother’s face (not exactly with a
pleased look
on it). I had been caught. I was, of course, summarily punished for
compounding
the offence. I remember thinking that
she must have all-seeing eyes to have known what I was doing, although
in later
years I concluded that she might have had help with her “all-seeing
eyes” from
a tattle-telling sister. I had been caught, either way.
Have you ever
been tempted to do something that you
know you shouldn’t, but heard your parent, or mate, or child in another
room,
and stopped because you knew that they could walk in and catch you at
any
minute? Not only did you fear punishment or recrimination, but it would
be
embarrassing to be caught in that particular sin. Have you ever stopped
yourself from sin because you did not want someone to see it? I think
most
honest people would admit to that, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Now to the
question with which we began. Do you really
believe that God exists? If we are as totally committed to a faith that
God
exists as we ought to be, won’t we feel the same way about his presence
and
knowledge of our activities that we do of human beings? Shouldn’t God’s
presence make us uncomfortable and embarrassed by sin in our lives? As
we look
over our shoulder (even if we are alone in the desert, we tend to look
over our
shoulder when we contemplate sin, to see if anyone is watching—admit
it—you do
it!) to check if any human is watching, shouldn’t we look above and
recognize
that God is watching?
I remember
singing the old song, “Watching You.” It was
number 564 in the old Sacred Selections songbook that I grew up
using.
The point of the song was pretty much the point I am making. I
understand that
it could be construed that the song makes it sound like God is out to
get us,
but that is not true, and I doubt that is what the author meant.
Sometime go
back and read the words to the song. It encourages us to simply walk in
the
right path, because God is watching us. Again, God is watching us to
care for
us, protect us and love us as well as to watch our path that we walk.
If I
really believe that God is there, and that he cares enough to watch
over me,
won’t I try to keep from embarrassing myself, and offending and hurting
Him in
my daily life?
Do we really
believe? Then let us live like we do. Let
us avoid sin, and try to make God proud of us. He sees and knows.
- “Behold, the eye of the
LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; To
deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine” (Psalm
33:18-19).
- “The eyes of the LORD are
upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of
the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of
them from the earth” (Psalm 34:15-16).
- “For the eyes of the Lord
are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but
the face of the Lord is against them that do evil” (1 Peter 3:12).
- “For ye were sometimes
darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light”
(Ephesians 5:8).
|
