As we read through the Bible using the reading plan there is a truth about God that stands out to me that I find very encouraging. That is the reality that God is watching us & He sees us. He is the living God and He is intimately involved in the lives of His people. God the Creator didn’t just make everything winding it up like a clock and let everything run to take course on its own. Rather God is the Creator and Sustainer of His creation. He spoke creation into existence with His word but He also upholds all of creation by His word (Hebrews 1:3). God watches & watches over His creation and nothing is hidden from His sight. No one can hide anything from the All-knowing & Omnipresent God.
David
David found much encouragement & comfort from the truth that God sees & is watching over His people. In light of being surrounded by wicked people & their evil plots this reality helped David walk in integrity, confidence & trust God through the adversity he faced. In Psalm 11 he wrote this:
The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven. His eyes watch; his eyes examine all people. Psalm 11:4 NET
God is sovereign over all things and He sees all things going on in the world has not forgotten His people, nor has He forgotten to punish the wicked. Sometimes when God’s judgement on evil doers doesn’t come as swift as we think it ought to we may be discouraged or be tempted to think God doesn’t see, but He does. The ungodly live their lives thinking God doesn’t see. David also wrote in Psalm 10:
The wicked think, “God isn’t watching us! He has closed his eyes and won’t even see what we do!” Psalm 10 NLT
One distinction between the wicked and the righteous is that the righteous live life with an awareness that God sees and the wicked live life thinking that God isn’t watching. It’s been said that this is the fear of the Lord when one lives their life with the awareness that God sees them even in the secret place.
Hagar
Remember in Genesis 16 what name Hagar attributed to God when the angel of the Lord met her in her distress after being treated harshly by Sarai. She said “You are the God who sees me” (Gen.16:13). God met Hagar in her affliction & distress. He comforted and instructed her telling Hagar to name her son Ishmael, which means ‘God hears’. The reality that God sees helped Hagar go back and do what she was supposed to do.
Joseph
Remember Genesis 39 in Joseph was tempted sexually by Potiphar’s wife and how he responded to her passionate plea to sleep with her. Joseph said in resisting temptation to sin sexually “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. 9 He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” Genesis 39:8 ESV. Joseph must have been aware that God was with Him and saw Him. He viewed the sin of adultery that he was tempted with as being something that was not only a sin against his master Potiphar but even more importantly a sin against God. Living our life with the awareness that God sees even in the secret place will motivate us to live holy & faithful lives of integrity.
A few years ago I sent a text message to a young man that I was mentoring. My text message was simply “God is watching”. Now my aim was to encourage him with that reality and motivate him towards holiness. As I reflected on my text message to him and the delay of response back from this young man, I realized that the text message could have been taken positively (which was my intention) or negatively. If he was in midst of doing something ungodly then it might have bene taken negatively or if he judged my intention to be condemning with that message it would have been taken negatively. However, if this young man was loving God, serving God and walking upright before God in that moment then the text message “God is watching” would have been refreshing, affirming & positive. We need to be reminded of this reality when things are going well and we are being faithful and in the times that we are struggling and being tempted to sin.
What is your initial response to the statement “God is watching”?
How would your life be different if you lived with more of an awareness that God sees you & He sees the wrongs done by others against you?
How would your devotional time with God look if you approached God with more an awareness that He sees you? How might your prayers change?
Would there be any difference in how you perform at work if you lived with an awareness that God sees you?
What characteristics would your attitude be marked by if you lived with more of an awareness that God sees you?
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