One of the distinct features of our faith is that we constantly live “Corem Deo.” That is to say, we live "before God" or "before the face of God" (corem is Latin for before, and deo means God). This is really something that makes us distinct among all the religions on the planet.
For most other religions, you have to come before your god. You have to go to some temple or sacred place in order to enter the presence of the supposed deity. But that is not the case when it comes to the true God.
For most other religions, you have to come before your god. You have to go to some temple or sacred place in order to enter the presence of the supposed deity. But that is not the case when it comes to the true God.
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"The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch over the evil and the good."
Proverbs 15:3 |
While we gather here this morning, we may indeed say that we are entering into his presence. By that we mean we engage with him in a qualitatively different way than we normally do. We experience his presence in a deeper magnitude.
But the fact of the matter is, we are always Corem Deo. We are always in his presence and we live the whole of our lives before the face of God. |
And this is certainly the point of the text before us this morning. Here in this passage of Scripture we are reminded that we stand before God at every moment of our lives. That is because God has an all seeing eye.
Solomon wants us to be wise to the fact of God’s omnipresence and omniscience, that is the fact that he is everywhere and knows all things. Solomon wants us to be wise to the fact that God has a comprehensive knowledge of all things, and particularly a thoroughgoing knowledge of every detail our lives.
If you look at the first part of the proverb you see that it gets at this comprehensive knowledge.
I. God sees all - He has a comprehensive knowledge
Nothing escapes the notice of God because, as it says, his eyes are in “every place.”
Now, we know that God does not really have eyes. And certainly he is not some monster that has a multiplicity of eyes that are all over the world. This is a poetic way of talking. It is attributing human characteristics to God in order to communicate the idea of God’s omniscience. It is a manner of speaking that helps us understand that God takes notice of every minute detail of every person in the world.
We know that God doesn’t have eyes. God is Spirit. He doesn’t have a body like us. And not only is he a Spirit, but he is an infinite Spirit. That means he is everywhere. He’s not like an angel. Angels are spiritual beings, but they are limited beings. They are spirits, but they are limited in that they are only in one place at one time.
God is different than the angels because he is an infinite Spirit. As an infinite spirit he fills the entire universe. And since he is everywhere, his “eyes” are everywhere. That is to say, he is able to have a comprehensive knowledge of everything that goes on no matter where you are. You can no more hide on the dark side of the moon than in plain daylight. When it comes to God there is no possible way to escape his presence. You are fully exposed to him at every moment of your life.
You can hide under your covers. You can drop into the grave. You can descend into the deepest regions of hell. But you will not elude the gaze of God.
When I was young we would often play hide and seek in my youth group. We attended a big old church and we’d love to go running through the halls and explore the various nooks and crannies of that edifice. But there was one guy who would never be found. He always had the best hiding place, and he never told anyone where it was. He would run off by himself and it would be hours before we saw him again. He would even fall asleep in his hiding place sometimes, prolonging the game and annoying all of us who wanted to start over. To this day I still don’t know where he hid. None of us do. As a matter of fact, he may still be hiding in that spot! I don’t know.
But I know someone who does know. No matter where he hid, even though he could not be detected by us—not even the guy who was our youth leader—even though he eluded us, he never fell off God’s radar. The Lord’s eyes are in every place. He has an intimate acquaintance with where we are and what we are doing at all times.
This is an attribute that we cannot possess, but it is one that man (at least evil and wicked men) constantly strives to emulate. In our rebellion against God, we aim to be like God. We strive to copy the divine attributes of God so that we can be god. And you know, you find this with people who love power and control.
Just think of the overly protective parent. They are sometimes called helicopter parents. They are always hovering over their kids and trying to keep track of absolutely everything their child does. Now, you know it is good to know where your kids are and keep tabs on them. But some parents are obsessive. They won’t take their eyes off their kids to allow them the opportunity to explore the world, to try things that are new, or even to fail. They are paranoid and lack trust in God. They think they have to have control of their every movement. They want omniscience. But that’s not godly parenting. That’s an obsessive and overly intrusive kind of parenting, and it is a kind of idolatry.
Wherever you have a dictatorship you will find an attempt to copy this attribute. Totalitarian states are built on this kind of thing and depend upon it. Dictators, like helicopter parents, do not like being in the dark on what people are doing. They feel they need to make sure that they are watching over every little detail of your lives.
Perhaps you’ve read the book 1984 or maybe have seen the old time movie. In that book Orwell depicted this quite well. The main character was always looking over his shoulder and in constant fear of being watched. At one point he and his paramour ran off together to the countryside to try and escape the pervasive political surveillance. But even in the outskirts of civilization they were still concerned that they could not speak freely. They were in constant fear because the regime was known to place microphones or cameras in trees and bushes.
Orwell was seeking to get at this idea of the attempted omniscience of the totalitarian state.
In many countries, like the former Soviet Union, you never knew who might be a KGB officer. You always had to be afraid of someone reporting you to the authorities.
In today’s world you have things like the Patriot Act where the Government takes every step possible to spy on you and have unlimited access to every bit of information about you.
But no matter how much man tries, he cannot even begin to copy the extent of God’s all seeing gaze. There is not corner that is blind to God. There is no cave deep enough or cavern dark enough to remove you from the plain sights of God.
The eyes of God are in every place. And what do these eyes do? The text says that these eyes are keeping watch.
II. What does it imply? Its singular purpose.
There is one singular purpose. It is to observe. God’s eye is not just observing, but it is inspecting. It is tracking and keeping a perfect account of the evil and the good.
When it comes to those who are evil, they should recognize the great guilt that they incur before Him. God’s eye is ever upon them and he has record of their every error. Yes, there are books that have documentation of every slip of the tongue, every smirk, and every disreputable twitch that might have come into their eye. Your fellow man may not have noticed it. The wicked may have made every attempt to keep it discreet or seal it off in secret, but it did not escape the notice of God. He has been an eye witness to it all.
Evil men must know just how unwearied God’s perception is. God not only sees the flagrant violations of his law, he not only notices the dark things we whisper behind closed doors—the gossips and the lies. He has a perfect knowledge even of those things that are tucked away in the confines of our thought life.
The divine eye, being itself invisible, is able to perceive that which is not visible. God’s eye is constantly taking an X-ray of your chest. What has been conceived in the heart is ever laid bare before God. The heart is not a safe that can secure secrets from the Lord. It’s every motive is under constant scrutiny. The selfish yearning, the haughty attitude, the lustful desire—all of it is recorded by the piercing retina of Christ.
There are times when men are asked to play the inspector. In factories, various goods will be sent down a conveyor belt. When the finished product comes through, they must examine each one for defects. For instance, sometimes the product will come down the conveyor belt too fast. Those who are there to keep watch will end up missing some of the defects. They may slide by because they were not noticed, or the defect was so small that it didn’t catch the eye.
Out of the heart of man there flows a monstrous river of ungodliness. There is a gushing stream of evil plans, hateful thoughts, jealousies, and all kinds of motives that are tainted with traces of selfishness, pride, resentment, and envy. And while no man could ever keep track of the torrential overflow, God spots each and every one.
The Lord Jesus himself would reinforce this during his earthly ministry. As he spoke with the religious leaders about their blasphemies, Jesus said that men would be accountable for every idle word they speak. A word that is careless, vain, or idle is one that does not administer grace or instruction. How much of our speech falls into such a category? I would say that buckets and barrels could be filled each day. Our speech is teeming with derogatory comments, sarcasm, and unedifying words. Who could really put a percentage of our vocabulary that falls into this category?
I will tell you one person who can. It is Christ. On judgment day every ungodly utterance will be set before us. He is making a perfect accounting of every idle word. Those who have not turned to Christ will bear the guilt of all of it, along with every evil thought and action.
But those who have put their trust in Christ and turned to him for pardon do not have such a dark and brooding gaze bearing down upon them. Not one of their sins is ever noticed by God. Scripture tells us that God does not see them. For their sins have been cast as far as the east is from the west. Their sins are hidden from God because they are behind the one thing that God’s eye cannot penetrate. They are hidden by the blood of Christ.
The Bible often talks about the sacrifices in terms of a kippur, that is a covering. The day of Yom Kippur was the day of Atonement. The high priest would go into the temple and offer a sacrifice. The blood would be poured out on the mercy seat and it would make a covering. That blood was said to block God’s vision. The blood of that lamb was said to cover the sins of the people.
That ultimately pointed to the work of Christ. When one puts his trust in Christ the blood of Christ covers his sins and God sees not one speck of guilt in them.
So the righteous do not experience that miserable, brooding gaze of God. Rather, God’s eye is upon them in a delightful way. God still watches them, as our text says. But his eye is much more favorable. His eye is an eye of grace and goodness. It is still a watchful eye—a piercing and all pervasive eye, but it is an eye of favor and love. It is a comforting eye.
It is true that God still sees our sin. He is God, after all. The idea of his casting it as far as the east is from the west is a metaphor. It is a poetic way of saying he does not count our sins against us. The guilt of our sin is covered and we are no more liable to its penalty.
So our sins are still just as visible to God as they are for the unbeliever. But we as believers are not haunted by that fact, as the unbeliever is. We know that he looks upon us with a fatherly eye. Thus, his eye dissuades us from sin. We know that he sees our sin from a parental perspective and this becomes to us a deterrent for more sin. It not only reminds us that he disciplines us in love, but it provokes in us a godly fear.
Knowing that he sees our secret sins is something that urges us to forsake them and put them to death.
When you know that you are under surveillance, you are much more circumspect in your actions, are you not? So it is with our relationship to Christ. We wish not to offend the Lord and we fear abusing his grace.
So the all seeing eye of God stimulates our repentance and is a good thing for us who believe. It deters us from further sin and prompts us to fight against temptation.
More than that, it is a deep comfort because God sees our repentance. Just as he sees the violations of God’s law, he sees the good works. And we know that all of them are being recorded. One day we shall stand before God. Not only will we be openly acquitted of all the wrongs, but He will reward us richly for all the ways that we have honored him.
Scripture does not elaborate on what kinds of rewards we shall receive in heaven, but it does speak liberally of the certainty of rewards. We are told that the Lord will say to each, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master.” And in Matthew 6 Jesus talks about giving. He says that we ought not to be showy in it. He says we should do it secretly, not even letting our right hand know what our left hand is doing. But he then says, “But your father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward it openly.”
God’s omniscience thus cheers us and reminds us that the Lord has our eternal good in mind.
Lastly, it consoles us in the fact that the fullness of the goodness of God’s providential favor is working on our behalf. Scripture says that all things work together for the good for those who love him and area called according to his purpose. His eye watches over us to see to it that we are protected and provided for. His eye is that of a guardian and a loving Father.
Scripture tells us that God knows the number of hairs on our head. Jesus said this to assure us that God has an intimate knowledge of our present estate. His aim was to console us and remind us that the Lord is seeing to our well being at every moment. Every hair is counted and precious to him. Not one will be damaged without his perfect will.
We might know that we do not have to be helicopter parents because God is the perfect watchman. He is ever with us to guide, direct, and help.
Conclusion:
May it be then that we always remember that the eye of God is in every place. Let us keep before our eyes the fact that the Lord has perfect knowledge of our present estate. And if there is a reason for us to be squeamish about it—it if is something that sets our hearts at unease, may it be that which prompts us to run to the cross of Christ and embrace the promises of salvation. Then, in that renewal of faith, may this eye be the
Solomon wants us to be wise to the fact of God’s omnipresence and omniscience, that is the fact that he is everywhere and knows all things. Solomon wants us to be wise to the fact that God has a comprehensive knowledge of all things, and particularly a thoroughgoing knowledge of every detail our lives.
If you look at the first part of the proverb you see that it gets at this comprehensive knowledge.
I. God sees all - He has a comprehensive knowledge
Nothing escapes the notice of God because, as it says, his eyes are in “every place.”
Now, we know that God does not really have eyes. And certainly he is not some monster that has a multiplicity of eyes that are all over the world. This is a poetic way of talking. It is attributing human characteristics to God in order to communicate the idea of God’s omniscience. It is a manner of speaking that helps us understand that God takes notice of every minute detail of every person in the world.
We know that God doesn’t have eyes. God is Spirit. He doesn’t have a body like us. And not only is he a Spirit, but he is an infinite Spirit. That means he is everywhere. He’s not like an angel. Angels are spiritual beings, but they are limited beings. They are spirits, but they are limited in that they are only in one place at one time.
God is different than the angels because he is an infinite Spirit. As an infinite spirit he fills the entire universe. And since he is everywhere, his “eyes” are everywhere. That is to say, he is able to have a comprehensive knowledge of everything that goes on no matter where you are. You can no more hide on the dark side of the moon than in plain daylight. When it comes to God there is no possible way to escape his presence. You are fully exposed to him at every moment of your life.
You can hide under your covers. You can drop into the grave. You can descend into the deepest regions of hell. But you will not elude the gaze of God.
When I was young we would often play hide and seek in my youth group. We attended a big old church and we’d love to go running through the halls and explore the various nooks and crannies of that edifice. But there was one guy who would never be found. He always had the best hiding place, and he never told anyone where it was. He would run off by himself and it would be hours before we saw him again. He would even fall asleep in his hiding place sometimes, prolonging the game and annoying all of us who wanted to start over. To this day I still don’t know where he hid. None of us do. As a matter of fact, he may still be hiding in that spot! I don’t know.
But I know someone who does know. No matter where he hid, even though he could not be detected by us—not even the guy who was our youth leader—even though he eluded us, he never fell off God’s radar. The Lord’s eyes are in every place. He has an intimate acquaintance with where we are and what we are doing at all times.
This is an attribute that we cannot possess, but it is one that man (at least evil and wicked men) constantly strives to emulate. In our rebellion against God, we aim to be like God. We strive to copy the divine attributes of God so that we can be god. And you know, you find this with people who love power and control.
Just think of the overly protective parent. They are sometimes called helicopter parents. They are always hovering over their kids and trying to keep track of absolutely everything their child does. Now, you know it is good to know where your kids are and keep tabs on them. But some parents are obsessive. They won’t take their eyes off their kids to allow them the opportunity to explore the world, to try things that are new, or even to fail. They are paranoid and lack trust in God. They think they have to have control of their every movement. They want omniscience. But that’s not godly parenting. That’s an obsessive and overly intrusive kind of parenting, and it is a kind of idolatry.
Wherever you have a dictatorship you will find an attempt to copy this attribute. Totalitarian states are built on this kind of thing and depend upon it. Dictators, like helicopter parents, do not like being in the dark on what people are doing. They feel they need to make sure that they are watching over every little detail of your lives.
Perhaps you’ve read the book 1984 or maybe have seen the old time movie. In that book Orwell depicted this quite well. The main character was always looking over his shoulder and in constant fear of being watched. At one point he and his paramour ran off together to the countryside to try and escape the pervasive political surveillance. But even in the outskirts of civilization they were still concerned that they could not speak freely. They were in constant fear because the regime was known to place microphones or cameras in trees and bushes.
Orwell was seeking to get at this idea of the attempted omniscience of the totalitarian state.
In many countries, like the former Soviet Union, you never knew who might be a KGB officer. You always had to be afraid of someone reporting you to the authorities.
In today’s world you have things like the Patriot Act where the Government takes every step possible to spy on you and have unlimited access to every bit of information about you.
But no matter how much man tries, he cannot even begin to copy the extent of God’s all seeing gaze. There is not corner that is blind to God. There is no cave deep enough or cavern dark enough to remove you from the plain sights of God.
The eyes of God are in every place. And what do these eyes do? The text says that these eyes are keeping watch.
II. What does it imply? Its singular purpose.
There is one singular purpose. It is to observe. God’s eye is not just observing, but it is inspecting. It is tracking and keeping a perfect account of the evil and the good.
When it comes to those who are evil, they should recognize the great guilt that they incur before Him. God’s eye is ever upon them and he has record of their every error. Yes, there are books that have documentation of every slip of the tongue, every smirk, and every disreputable twitch that might have come into their eye. Your fellow man may not have noticed it. The wicked may have made every attempt to keep it discreet or seal it off in secret, but it did not escape the notice of God. He has been an eye witness to it all.
Evil men must know just how unwearied God’s perception is. God not only sees the flagrant violations of his law, he not only notices the dark things we whisper behind closed doors—the gossips and the lies. He has a perfect knowledge even of those things that are tucked away in the confines of our thought life.
The divine eye, being itself invisible, is able to perceive that which is not visible. God’s eye is constantly taking an X-ray of your chest. What has been conceived in the heart is ever laid bare before God. The heart is not a safe that can secure secrets from the Lord. It’s every motive is under constant scrutiny. The selfish yearning, the haughty attitude, the lustful desire—all of it is recorded by the piercing retina of Christ.
There are times when men are asked to play the inspector. In factories, various goods will be sent down a conveyor belt. When the finished product comes through, they must examine each one for defects. For instance, sometimes the product will come down the conveyor belt too fast. Those who are there to keep watch will end up missing some of the defects. They may slide by because they were not noticed, or the defect was so small that it didn’t catch the eye.
Out of the heart of man there flows a monstrous river of ungodliness. There is a gushing stream of evil plans, hateful thoughts, jealousies, and all kinds of motives that are tainted with traces of selfishness, pride, resentment, and envy. And while no man could ever keep track of the torrential overflow, God spots each and every one.
The Lord Jesus himself would reinforce this during his earthly ministry. As he spoke with the religious leaders about their blasphemies, Jesus said that men would be accountable for every idle word they speak. A word that is careless, vain, or idle is one that does not administer grace or instruction. How much of our speech falls into such a category? I would say that buckets and barrels could be filled each day. Our speech is teeming with derogatory comments, sarcasm, and unedifying words. Who could really put a percentage of our vocabulary that falls into this category?
I will tell you one person who can. It is Christ. On judgment day every ungodly utterance will be set before us. He is making a perfect accounting of every idle word. Those who have not turned to Christ will bear the guilt of all of it, along with every evil thought and action.
But those who have put their trust in Christ and turned to him for pardon do not have such a dark and brooding gaze bearing down upon them. Not one of their sins is ever noticed by God. Scripture tells us that God does not see them. For their sins have been cast as far as the east is from the west. Their sins are hidden from God because they are behind the one thing that God’s eye cannot penetrate. They are hidden by the blood of Christ.
The Bible often talks about the sacrifices in terms of a kippur, that is a covering. The day of Yom Kippur was the day of Atonement. The high priest would go into the temple and offer a sacrifice. The blood would be poured out on the mercy seat and it would make a covering. That blood was said to block God’s vision. The blood of that lamb was said to cover the sins of the people.
That ultimately pointed to the work of Christ. When one puts his trust in Christ the blood of Christ covers his sins and God sees not one speck of guilt in them.
So the righteous do not experience that miserable, brooding gaze of God. Rather, God’s eye is upon them in a delightful way. God still watches them, as our text says. But his eye is much more favorable. His eye is an eye of grace and goodness. It is still a watchful eye—a piercing and all pervasive eye, but it is an eye of favor and love. It is a comforting eye.
It is true that God still sees our sin. He is God, after all. The idea of his casting it as far as the east is from the west is a metaphor. It is a poetic way of saying he does not count our sins against us. The guilt of our sin is covered and we are no more liable to its penalty.
So our sins are still just as visible to God as they are for the unbeliever. But we as believers are not haunted by that fact, as the unbeliever is. We know that he looks upon us with a fatherly eye. Thus, his eye dissuades us from sin. We know that he sees our sin from a parental perspective and this becomes to us a deterrent for more sin. It not only reminds us that he disciplines us in love, but it provokes in us a godly fear.
Knowing that he sees our secret sins is something that urges us to forsake them and put them to death.
When you know that you are under surveillance, you are much more circumspect in your actions, are you not? So it is with our relationship to Christ. We wish not to offend the Lord and we fear abusing his grace.
So the all seeing eye of God stimulates our repentance and is a good thing for us who believe. It deters us from further sin and prompts us to fight against temptation.
More than that, it is a deep comfort because God sees our repentance. Just as he sees the violations of God’s law, he sees the good works. And we know that all of them are being recorded. One day we shall stand before God. Not only will we be openly acquitted of all the wrongs, but He will reward us richly for all the ways that we have honored him.
Scripture does not elaborate on what kinds of rewards we shall receive in heaven, but it does speak liberally of the certainty of rewards. We are told that the Lord will say to each, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master.” And in Matthew 6 Jesus talks about giving. He says that we ought not to be showy in it. He says we should do it secretly, not even letting our right hand know what our left hand is doing. But he then says, “But your father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward it openly.”
God’s omniscience thus cheers us and reminds us that the Lord has our eternal good in mind.
Lastly, it consoles us in the fact that the fullness of the goodness of God’s providential favor is working on our behalf. Scripture says that all things work together for the good for those who love him and area called according to his purpose. His eye watches over us to see to it that we are protected and provided for. His eye is that of a guardian and a loving Father.
Scripture tells us that God knows the number of hairs on our head. Jesus said this to assure us that God has an intimate knowledge of our present estate. His aim was to console us and remind us that the Lord is seeing to our well being at every moment. Every hair is counted and precious to him. Not one will be damaged without his perfect will.
We might know that we do not have to be helicopter parents because God is the perfect watchman. He is ever with us to guide, direct, and help.
Conclusion:
May it be then that we always remember that the eye of God is in every place. Let us keep before our eyes the fact that the Lord has perfect knowledge of our present estate. And if there is a reason for us to be squeamish about it—it if is something that sets our hearts at unease, may it be that which prompts us to run to the cross of Christ and embrace the promises of salvation. Then, in that renewal of faith, may this eye be the