You've heard that "God sees everything". The Bible agrees - "The LORD looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men. From His dwelling place He looks out On all the inhabitants of the earth. He who fashions the hearts of them all. He who understands all their works." (Psalm 33:13-15)
But it goes on to say "Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His unfailing love." (Psalm 33:18) Now, that's a little different. For those who fear (or revere Him), God not only sees them, He looks at them in a different way. I like to describe the difference like this..
When my daughter was in elementary school, she attended an after-school program. After school was officially over, until I could leave work and pick her up, she was in the program for a couple of hours. There were games and activities, basically a fun time for the children. When I would arrive to pick her up, there were kids everywhere, all over the place. I would look and look and eventually would see my daughter in the midst of the crowd. From that moment on, the other kids were simply in the background. Sure I could see the other children, but my main focus was my little girl. I would call out her name and she would come running screaming with arms open wide "Daddy!". That's the difference between how God views everyone in the world, and how He see His children.
One morning on the way to work, I was sitting at a stop light and started thinking about God looking down on the people of Earth, rushing about, trying to get to their jobs on time. All of a sudden I felt that still small voice I've heard so often. It felt as though God were saying "hey there's my boy". Here I was, at a traffic light, with so many other cars all around me. I can imagine very few of those people were even thinking about God at that particular point in time. But here I was meditating on God's presence. Well, I just couldn't help but think God was pleased. Not that I'm perfect by any means, but that day I did catch a glimpse of His pleasure.
One of the saddest stories in the Bible is found in Genesis 6, where God looked out on the people of Earth and saw that everyone only thought of evil continually. It goes on to say God was grieved. BUT it also goes on to say, there was one person who was different. It says "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord". No matter how bad things get, how evil the world becomes, I want to be like Noah and find that grace. I want God's eyes to be on me, as I hope in His unfailing love.
His eye is upon me
for as from my youth
He has pursued me
in Spirit and truth
He has pursued me
and when I would hide
His arms would be to me
opened so wide
Opened wide are
His eyes toward me
He has pursued me
and now I'm free
