The Eyes of God
Psalm 33:18
Introduction: How long has it been since you gave serious thought and consideration to God’s influence in your life? Now, how long has it been since you gave serious thought and consideration to your attention or lack of it to the things of God? I talk to a lot of people and during my conversations with them they all tell me how much they believe in God. Some even give testimony of being saved by the blood of Jesus. When we talk about living for God, more often than not I am told they feel like they are doing the best they can and they are not worried about the rest. Not worried about how God looks at their lives. Are you worried about how God looks at your life? Do you realize “The Eyes of God” are upon you? That should be a sobering thought this morning. God sees our life under some very specific criteria, look with me this morning as we see ourselves through “The Eyes of God.”…
The psalm opens with the word “Behold” one word that speaks
volumes about God. You see Behold means “To fix the eyes upon; to see with attention; to observe with care.” God
not only sees you, He is paying attention and He even cares about what He sees!
God has knowledge of everything you and I do, say or think. That’s amazing!
God doesn’t do this to put pressure on us; He does this to keep us from temptation. (Illus.) When you were a child, if you knew dad or mom was watching you, I bet you were very careful what you said or did, right. This kept you out of a lot of trouble didn’t it. Do you give God the same consideration? Most people don’t, most folks live, the way that makes them feel good. Doesn’t matter if folks are in church or not, to many times God takes a back seat to what ever makes us feel better.
Next we hear the Psalmist tell us “the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him” what a statement!!! Just reading it should stir you soul, but when we look into the depths of it we understand what the Psalmist is really telling us. The eye of the Lord is not His physical sight it is His provincial oversight. God looks over provides for and takes care those who fear Him. The phrase “them that fear Him” translates an adjective in the Hebrew which literally means a fear which comes from an intimate knowledge of authority. In other words those of us who can say we know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and are know by God as His children realize the authority God has in our lives, therefore we have reverent fear of God, one that is healthy and promotes our growth and development, in all aspects of our life.
God’s provincial oversight takes care of those who accept God in reverence and respect.
As this verse concludes we read “upon them that hope in His mercy” here we see that Gods affection is directed to specific people, those who hope. Hope a word all Christians cling to during the walk with God. In this verse hope is a verb which means to wait or tarry. Specifically in this Psalm it means to wait with anticipation and confidence. The anticipation and confidence speaks of Gods mercy. Mercy, on of those two sweet and special words that are near and dear to the Christians, grace and mercy. The mercy spoken of by the Psalmist is that of loving-kindness, goodness and faithfulness, attributes of God that are recognized only by His children. If grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve, mercy must be God withholding what we do deserve. Think about that this morning, if God gave you what you deserved, from His point of view, what would your life be like?
Conclusion: This morning do you realize God sees you, every second of every minute of every hour of every day of your life! Not only does He see you but He has knowledge of your every thought, desire, plan and activity. That is why we say God is all knowing. Do you realize His knowledge affects His affection that is shown to you? I didn’t say God doesn’t love you but the blessings you get or don’t get from God are affected by the way you live or don’t live for Him. God knows if you have true reverence and respect for Him, He knows the difference between your excuses and your service. Since He knows everything and handles your life according to the way you live it doesn’t it stand to reason that God saves His best for those who truly love Him. Yes there are the saved and lost, but within the ranks of the saved are those who live a slack spiritual life, those people are missing out on God’s amazing authority, providence and mercy.
Close as God leads…