Part 5: Always Seeing Series

Good morning. I’d like you to find Genesis 16 in your copy of God’s Word. And we’re going to wind up in John 4, so if you want to mark that too, then you’ll be ready at the end of the service.

We have been talking in this series about the never changing, ever faithful God. Hebrews 13:8 says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. In Malachi 3, we hear God saying through the prophet, “I am the Lord. I do not change” (Malachi 3:6). So we’ve talked about the God who is always speaking. Always working. Always hearing.

And so this morning, we come to the truth that God is always seeing.

But as I was preparing this week, it occurred me that of all the “Always” statements we are going to talk about, this is the one that, just because it’s true, that doesn’t mean it’s comforting.

How does it make you feel knowing that somebody’s always watching you? When Rockwell, another one-hit wonder sang “I always feel like somebody’s watching me” in the 80’s, there wasn’t any comfort in it. It was more like an ode to paranoia.

And also from the 80’s, there’s The Police’s biggest radio hit: “Every single day, every word you say, every game you play, every night you stay I’ll be watching you” But if you were the one Sting was singing about, would you feel protected? Or stalked?

So God is always seeing. He is always watching. Hebrews 4:13 says

13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

If that verse was all you knew of God, how would you feel about Him? Maybe He seems like the cosmic cop, waiting for you to mess up. Or maybe He’s like Roz in Monsters Inc. I’m always watching, Wazowski. Always watching.

AW Tozer, one of my favorite dead theologians, famously said, “What comes to our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

So this morning, I want to ask you, “What comes to your mind when you think about God always seeing? Always watching? Because how you respond to God seeing you is going to reveal a lot about how you see God.

Let me pray for us. And then we will dive in to what God’s Word says about the always seeing God.

[Pray]

Main Teaching

So really there are two questions: 1. Does God really see everything; and 2.How do I feel about that? So first, let’s see what the Bible says about how God sees everything:

1. God Sees What We Do. This is all over Scripture, but here’s just a few examples. Notice all of the “seeing” verbs:

Psalm 33:13-15 – “The Lord looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man; 14 from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, 15 he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds.”

Proverbs 5:21 – “For a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all his paths.”

Proverbs 15:3 – “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.”

God sees our obedience. If we are faithfully serving Him, God sees it:

2 Chronicles 16:9a – “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.”

God sees everything, even if no one else does. Remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount?

Matt. 6:4-6 – “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

And yes, God also sees our disobedience and sin:

Jeremiah 16:17 – “For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from me, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes.”

Psalm 90:8 – “You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.”

Maybe you think: “God’s got so much to keep track of. Surely He’s not paying attention to me fudging the numbers on this expense report. Or googling the answer to a test question underneath the desk.