God Is Watching You!
Psalm 139:1-6
Woody Allen’s film, Crimes and Misdemeanors, centers on a modern Jewish physician named Judah whose adultery has caught up with him and is starting to cause his life to unravel. As is the norm, in the midst of his turmoil, Judah seeks to return to his biblical roots. Specifically, he wants to know, "What does God think of me?"
Unfortunately, the only picture of God that had made much of an impression on him from his synagogue attending days was the All-Seeing Eye.
This mammoth eyeball had been a dominant image in his life. Every time he thought of God he thought of the eye. When he thought of his life choices he was full of guilt because God had seen him and his sin. Whenever he made decisions he remembered it. He even became an ophthalmologist!
I laugh when I think of how ridiculous that is but then a moment of honesty over sweeps me. I was young once and sat in mass with my grandparents and listened as the choir sang the song there is an all seeing eye watching you. I looked up some of the words:
There’s an Eye watching you. Watching you, watching you, Every day mind the course you pursue; Watching you, watching you, There’s an all-seeing Eye watching you.
It is no wonder that so many of us in the church have fear that has skyrocketed into unhealthy places.
But even with that fear we so often complain, "No one really knows me. Why do I even waste my time, it’s not like anyone really cares. “
What they are doing is criticizing the shallowness of many of our human relationships. When someone asks how we’re doing, we know that the socially acceptable answer is "fine." And that has become so entrenched in our subconscious that we don’t really listen anymore.
My parents tell a story about a church where they attended while I was just a baby. Their preacher was at the back of the church shaking hands and herding the cattle through, with how are you? Good to see you, that’s good, thank you, glad you were here today…”
A woman walked past this minister and he said “how are you?” And she replied “I am so depressed I want to kill myself” and his reply was “That’s good, thank you, glad you were here today…”
Have you ever wondered “What if it’s not fine?” If your life is anything like mine and someone asks how are you I start thinking, "The kids have been driving me crazy, and I nearly boiled them for breakfast," but I still say, "fine." And you smile.
No Secrets
I say that I would love to have a relationship where someone knows me so well that they understand me fully. But is that what I really want?
Can you imagine having someone who really does see you fully? Such a person might have access to every thought, every action, and every mistake in your life. Imagine not having anything secret! Imagine someone really knowing what I think of your new dress?
And yet that’s just what Psalm 139 is telling us about God. He knows more than we’d care to have known if given the choice. He is that All-Seeing Eye watching us. He sees every nook and cranny of my life: every broken window, every piece of mildewed carpet, every chipped tile, and every mark on the wall.
Everything is subject to his scrutiny. Let’s read Psalm 139:1-6
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.
What a frightening psalm. Not the type that you would want to read for comfort at a funeral. Where is the grace in it?
I mean we serve a God that sees everything! He is a bigger snoop that your little brother, and that song, well let’s just say that I picture that all seeing eyeball that is swollen from anger and bloodshot from squinting and peering into every aspect of my life.
An Insider’s look
We say that God is Omniscient and even though we have scripture like Job 38 and 39 that tells us that God is all knowing I think that it is too cold a word to describe the first six verses of this psalm. It isn’t speaking generally about how knowledgeable God is. The point isn’t that God is a bright, cosmic Rhodes scholar who knows the answers to the mysteries of history and the riddles of the universe.
Rather, David says that God knows me. In my desire to know God, I must remember that His knowledge of me is a foreknowledge – God knows me before I know him!
David describes six ways that God has shown an intimate knowledge of us in our passage tonight.
1. Verse 1 says that God has searched me.
Paul is lead to write in Romans 8:26-27 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
I believe that this can only happen because that Holy Spirit continues to search my heart and soul to know the real me. From His flawless insider’s knowledge of me, the Holy Spirit is not only able to understand my prayers and groanings, but able to interpret and explain them to God as well.
God has searched me and left no stone unturned.
2. Verse 1 and 2 says that God knows me.
Not only has God searched me out but he knows what I do and why I do it. This is a special picture of God’s unique relationship with His creation. The understanding that God has of us is like that intimate understanding of a best friend.
When we worked in Nashville there was a group of 12 men who would meet every Wednesday night after church to play basketball in the gym. We would play for about an hour and then spend another hour and a half talking about how out of shape and tired we were. We tried to mix the teams up as much as possible but in all of the time we played I always played on the team opposite of Joe King. Joe had a daughter in our Youth Group and he is a great guy but I learned real quickly that Joe was a creature of habit on the ball court. Move one head fake, Move two jump shot. Every time he took a shot it was head fake and then leave the ground. I got pretty good blocking Joe’s shot, because I knew what he was going to do.
In the same way God knows us so well he not only knows what we are going to do but why we do it.
3. Verse 2 says that God perceives my thoughts.
When Trista and I first got married she was trying to explain to me the worth of an Ear Nose and Throat Doctor, and being a Navy brat I wasn’t buying it. So while we were at Her mom’s house she made an appointment for her and wanted me to tag along.
I sat there and watched this man poke and prod my new bride with great interest, and then he turned and looked at me and said well you’re the new husband so you probably jump on up here and let me see if your septum is deviated like the rest of these folks.
Well I didn’t know that I even had a septum and if I did and it was deviated I didn’t care, it wasn’t bothering me. But I saw this as an opportunity to finish the ENT discussion, so like a trained lap dog I hopped right up in that chair. The Doctor said that he would just spray a little something in my nose and then take a look. Not so bad right? Wrong.
He shot something cold in my nose and I know I felt it hit the back of my head. But before I could complain he took this long snake looking thing and put it the same place the spray went so he could get a better look.
While I tried not to gag he looked all over my sinus cavity. In the middle of all of this I was awe struck that a man could be standing right next to me looking at what was going on inside me.
I think in a way that’s what David is saying about God here. God sees my thought patterns from afar. Nothing escapes him.
4. Verse 3 says that God discerns my comings and goings.
It doesn’t matter whether I am on the run or resting, God can separate what’s going on in my life. God knows what makes chaos and what brings peace. God knows where I am.
5. And Verse 3 says that God is familiar with my ways.
Now this is the part that gives me a little trouble. He knows my habits, my weaknesses, and my strengths. He knows all my business.
God knows when I feel trapped and want to lie to get out of it. God knows when I feel like I have the upper hand and desire to use it for all it’s worth.
God knows why I come to church, and whether I am really here or if my mind and spirit is off somewhere else.
If I lift a finger to help you God knows whether my motives are pure or if there is an underlying reason.
God is familiar with us and our was.
6. And in verse 6 we see that God knows my words before they’re on my tongue.
He knows what I’m going to say before I say it. Have you ever had a friend so close that you can finish sentences for each other?
Trista and I just celebrated 10 beautiful years together, and we have gotten pretty good at it. And it’s pretty handy. With Trafton picking up every thing we say, we try to say a lot by saying the minimum.
The insights described in verses 1-6 are overwhelming-even frightening! God knows everything about me: my strong points, my vulnerable points, my frustrations, my sins. He knows me inside and out. Nothing escapes the gaze of this All-Seeing Eye.
The Relentless Retina
Is there a way to hide from this penetrating look?
Well let’s start back in verse 7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?"
Maybe we could try fleeing upward-no, God is in the heavens.
OK how about downward? No, God is present in the depths (Skeol) as well.
Well we could try the east ("the wings of the dawn") or the west ("the far side of the sea"). Nope, God is there as well.
Well then maybe we could just wait out the daytime and let the darkness protect us. But That won’t help either, because God can see in the dark:
Even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
Verse 12
Even in the safest, most hidden place-our mothers’ wombs-we are not removed from God’s presence.
Look at verses 13-15 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
But David discovers what we discover as well. God is not chasing us, rather he is waiting on us. "You are there ... there ... even there."
I think that this level of intimate knowledge is too much to comprehend. Actually, it’s enough to scare the pants off of us! I have been waiting all night to hear a word of grace but so far there has been none to be found. Where is the message of grace to protect us from this all seeing eye?
A Wink of Approval
I believe that the word of grace comes at the very end of the psalm. The last two verses set the context of security and acceptance.
Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! Psalm 139:23, 24
Did you hear the beautiful song of grace in that passage? No? You are probably wondering why would the psalmist invite God to continue searching? Isn’t that like asking the IRS to check not only your return from last year but the ones from the previous ten years as well?
One relationship in life has helped me understand why he might welcome God’s continuing search. There is one person who knows more about my shortcomings and sins than anyone else. While many friends could write chapters about my goofs, Trista could produce a book. And yet she is also the one who loves me the most!
"Search me and know my heart" could be spoken only by someone who feels completely loved and accepted, one whose hunger for God has been satisfied. These words could be spoken only to One who unconditionally loves the person he is watching.
He sees every square inch of my life-and still he loves me unconditionally. He knows my successes and my failures; he sees my strengths and my weaknesses; he understands how holy and unholy I can be. And He never withholds his love.
God is an all-seeing eye, but not the eye I imagined as a teenager.
Psalm 139 describes the caring, constant view of a loving parent or a true friend, not the stinging, oppressive view of a cosmic critic. Instead of being swollen with anger and bloodshot, this eye gleams with a mother’s joy and a father’s approval.
That’s the grace. That God loves us, and cares for us so much that even though He knows every aspect of my life He still pours out His forgiving grace, and that’s truly amazing.
Offer Invitation.
