"For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil" 1st peter 3:12
Introduction: A little boy was eagerly looking forward to the birthday party of a friend who lived only a few blocks away. When the day finally arrived, a blizzard made the sidewalks and roads nearly impassable. The lad’s father, sensing the danger, hesitated to let his son go. The youngster reacted tearfully. "But Dad," he pleaded, "all the other kids will be there. Their parents are letting them go." The father thought for a moment, and then replied softly,
"All right, you may go." Surprised but overjoyed, the boy bundled up and plunged into the raging storm. The driving snow made visibility almost impossible, and it took him more than half an hour to trudge the short distance to the party. As he rang the doorbell, he turned briefly to look out into the storm. His eye caught the shadow of a retreating figure. It was his father. He had followed his son’s every step to make sure he arrived safely. Unknown
Transition: Everyone needs to be cared for to have people in your life to celebrate the great events of life. People who will offer a shoulder to cry on and an encouraging word at just the most opportune time. What would it mean to you what does it mean to you to know that God cares for you, that He watches over you?
Today in a message titled "Someone to watch over me" we will discover that He does with vigilance and great love. We will also learn that he is against those who do evil!
"For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil" 1st peter 3:12
1. His eyes are on us
2. His ears are open to us
3. His face is against those who do evil
I. His eyes are on us: "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous"
What does it mean to have someone’s eyes on you? I remember reading about the advice of a children’s expert who said if you ever have trouble getting your kid’s attention you should say "give me your eyes" that is focus on me, listen to me, pay attention to me! You never have to wonder if the Lord’s eyes are on you! "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous" A simple enough statement, but oh the application of it! Christian brother or sister, you never have to worry about having "Someone to watch over you" The Psalmist put it best in the 139 Psalm:
Psalm 139 For the director of music. A psalm. "O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, [1] you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to [2] me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you".
God’s eyes are upon you! He is aware of the frustration that wearies you, the dreams you have dreamed when everyone doubted you. He knows you for you see he created you and with all that complicates your life…remember this uncomplicated but marvelous truth "the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous" and because they are be sure …..
II. His ears are open to you: "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer"
Writer Charles Swindoll once found himself with too many commitments in too few days. He got nervous and tense about it. "I was snapping at my wife and our children, choking down my food at mealtimes, and feeling irritated at those unexpected interruptions through the day," he recalled in his book Stress Fractures. "Before long, things around our home started reflecting the patter of my hurry-up style. It was become unbearable.
"I distinctly remember after supper one evening, the words of our younger daughter, Colleen. She wanted to tell me something important that had happened to her at school that day. She began hurriedly, ’Daddy, I wanna tell you somethin’ and I’ll tell you really fast.’ "Suddenly realizing her frustration, I answered,’ Honey, you can tell me -- and you don’t have to tell me really fast. Say it slowly." "I’ll never forget her answer: ’Then listen slowly.’" Bits & Pieces, June 24, 1993, Page 13-14
Peter assures us this morning that not only are we the object of God’s eyes, He hears us, he’s attentive he listens slowly!
Bob Keeshan, you and I know him as "Captain Kangaroo" once said: "Attention is like a daily bouquet of love"
"For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer"
You can be sure that God wait’s for you to come to him, to talk to him to let him know of your goals aspirations dreams fears uncertainties! There will always be competing events in your life that will try to regulate prayer to less than a priority.
Oxford professor C.S. Lewis once said:
"The moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists in shoving it all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in" C.S. Lewis
The attentive vigilant focused attention of all mighty God, merits are supreme response! May he have yours? This week this moment beginning tomorrow morning? Refusing a tepid predictable dull Christian life?
"For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer"
God listens to his people, his ears are attentive to their prayers! What kind of prayers you may be wondering? Were aware of the verse in James that states clearly "You have not because you ask not" What do you pray about that drives you to God in earnest prayer? For two many Christians prayer is something mysterious something that baffles us!
Pastor John McArthur in a sermon called " Praying for the right thing’s" said:" "Sadly the prayers of most Christians are directed toward the wrong stuff. Most of the time Christians pray in regard to themselves and those they love for somewhat shallow things. The prayers are often misdirected and very short-sighted, and, in fact, selfish. Christians typically pray for health and happiness and success. They pray for personal benefit. They pray for comfort. They pray for solutions to fix all of the little problems of life. They pray for a healed body or a home or food or a job or a car, a husband, a wife, a promotion, more money. Those things while they certainly make up part of life are very low on Paul’s priority list. They’re also very low on the priority list of Jesus who said basically take no thought for what you eat or drink or wear, knowing full well that God supplies all of those things. Get on with seeking matters that relate to the Kingdom of God." McArthur helps us to see the prayers that we should pray, and in doing so were confident that God hears us! He quotes from:
2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verses 11 and 12. "To this end also we pray for you always that our God may count you worthy of your calling and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power in order that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."
He concludes: "That is what I would call a prayer report from Paul. It is not a prayer, though his letters have many prayers in them, but it is a report of how he prays. He is telling the Thessalonians the nature of his prayer for them. And as you look at that prayer and consider it, you come to the conclusion that he is praying for the right stuff." "To this end also we pray for you always that our God may count you worthy of your calling and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power in order that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."
His eyes are on us
His ears are open to us
III. His face is against those who do evil "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil" 1st peter 3:12
*This literally is the idea of God frowning upon those who do evil with great displeasure! In Hebrew thought, the face of God meant his presence his person. So, his entire person is against those who do evil! * Ray Summers, Broadman Bible Commentary Pg 161
It’s easy to get discouraged , and think this world is getting darker and darker and evil seems to be winning!
This week I happened on a fascinating passage of scripture in the book of 1st Samuel. It clearly shows the power of our God, and the reality that evil wins only for a short time! "After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then they carried the ark into Dagon’s temple and set it beside Dagon. When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon’s temple at Ashdod step on the threshold. The LORD’s hand was heavy upon the people of Ashdod and its vicinity; he brought devastation upon them and afflicted them with tumors.
[1] When the men of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, "The ark of the god of Israel must not stay here with us, because his hand is heavy upon us and upon Dagon our god." So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and asked them, "What shall we do with the ark of the god of Israel?" They answered, "Have the ark of the god of Israel moved to Gath." So they moved the ark of the God of Israel. But after they had moved it, the LORD’s hand was against that city, throwing it into a great panic. He afflicted the people of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors.
[2] So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. As the ark of God was entering Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, "They have brought the ark of the god of Israel around to us to kill us and our people." So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, "Send the ark of the god of Israel away; let it go back to its own place, or it
[3] will kill us and our people." For death had filled the city with panic; God’s hand was very heavy upon it. Those who did not die were afflicted with tumors, and the outcry of the city went up to heaven." 1st Samuel 5:1-12
His eyes are on us
His ears are open to us
His face is against those who do evil
Appeal: 1.Be encouraged in God you have "Someone to watch over you"
2. Be a person of prayer…pray the right things!
3. Never forget that evil people’s days are numbered! Evil’s victories are short lived!
"For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil" 1st peter 3:12
