Our “Eyes On” Lord
- Apr 24
- 9 min read
“For the eyes of the Lord roam throughout the earth to show himself strong for those who are wholeheartedly devoted to him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9)
“I always feel like somebody’s watching me,
And I have no privacy.
Woh, I always feel like somebody’s watching me.
Tell me, is it just a dream?” (Rockwell, Somebody’s Watching Me, 1984)
Integrity is how you live when no one is watching you.
But we all know integrity falls short because of human nature. Born-again or not, we all struggle with integrity.
I’ll tell you what helps me. I had a reinforcement lesson about it just this week.
On Tuesday mornings, I help a friend who owns a pool cleaning business. If you live in a sub-tropical climate like southwest Florida, it’s a glorious and, sometimes, a really tough job. On the glorious side, you should see my tan. Fabulous! Plus, I get to service both spectacular, multi-million-dollar homes with awesome lanais (outdoor living areas) and very modest ranch homes. On the tough side, early starts in winter can be chilly in shorts and a t-shirt, and working during the summer can be brutally humid and hot, even at eight in the morning.
So, I have a choice during the tough days. I can take shortcuts, i.e., not thoroughly brush the pool surfaces that, in the long run, really won’t matter, I can do every step my friend taught me to accomplish, and move on to the next pool regardless of time and how sweaty and smelly I get. (Thank God, many of the homeowners are up north for the summer.)
I choose the latter—most of the time—mea culpa.
But I’ve learned a valuable lesson. Whether I know it or not, most homeowners have installed cameras that watch their lanais and boat docks. Want to know what really freaks me out? When I’m in the middle of a pool cleaning, a voice from heaven echoes from above. “Hey, Pool-Boy!” (That’s when I jump and look around.) “Wanna make sure you vacuum the pool this time? A lot of worms crawled in and died after the last torrential downpour. Thanks, buddy!”
Yup. It’s the homeowner, watching me do my job. At those moments, I’m glad I wasn’t talking to myself or singing off-key as I worked.
The valuable lesson about integrity is that you never know who might be watching, even when you think no one is watching. Therefore, whenever I clean pools, I always assume the homeowner is watching, which motivates me to check my integrity when it’s flagging under heat and the pressure of a particularly nasty job, like cleaning out algae or random dead worms or frogs floating in the pool.
And, of course, it reminded me of a scripture, the one I led with above. “For the eyes of the Lord roam throughout the earth to show himself strong for those who are wholeheartedly devoted to him” (2 Chronicles 16:9).
Yes, I know our Lord doesn’t have eyes. He’s a spiritual being. The “eyes of the Lord” is an idiom that implies the Father is aware of everything happening in His entire physical and spiritual creation, just as a camera sees everything on the homeowner’s property.
That got me thinking. Is the Lord only aware of those who are “wholeheartedly” devoted to Him, or does He “look for” (is aware of) other things? So, I did a quick scripture search and found some very encouraging things.
The Lord watches every person and holds them accountable for their actions, whether they do good or evil:
“The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord—his throne is in heaven. His eyes watch; his gaze examines everyone” (Psalm 11:4), “No creature is hidden from him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account” (Hebrew 4:13), and “The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, observing the wicked and the good” (Proverbs 15:3).
Tell me, how many people have lived and are currently living on this planet? Simple math: billions! And yet, the Lord knows each individual. No one is beyond His awareness, no one is ignored or forgotten. The Lord’s divine nature is such that He gives each of us His full attention as if we were the only person on His earth.
I sometimes lament over how many of Jesus’ followers have been mercilessly persecuted and martyred for their faith. Outside of a few shining examples, most of them are unnamed, faceless victims of evil, like the Christians who have been murdered by Islamic terrorists in Nigeria recently. Just this week, I saw a picture of shrouded bodies, around eight to twelve, who were killed by wicked people in the latest attack. While the news cycle quickly forgets what happened, and those victims are unknown to us, Jesus knows. He saw each faithful saint die, He knows who will give an account, and He will separate the wicked from the righteous in the life to come.
Because He sees.
Jesus sees you and me. There is absolutely no cutting corners in living a Jesus-dedicated life. When times get hot, and the pressure is on, I’m tempted to follow the “Oh, just this time I’ll…” thinking no one is watching, no one will know, and no one will find out. On a human level, yes, that’s true. But on the Lord’s level, I’m deceiving myself. Rather than letting this condemn me, I use this to motivate me. Like I do with the lanai cameras, whether I think God sees me or I delude myself into thinking He doesn’t, I admit the truth—He does. Always. Every second. Forever. It really helps me decide not to sin and instead do what’s right according to the Lord’s ways.
But wait! There’s more!
To help:
“But look, the Lord keeps his eye on those who fear him—those who depend on his faithful love to rescue them from death and to keep them alive in famine” (Psalm 33:18-19), “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry for help” (Psalm 34:15), and “…because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer… (1 Peter 3:12, requoted from Psalm 34:15).
One of the pool guys I know had to quit because of a potentially life-threatening condition. He started having seizures. That’s bad enough. But even worse is working around pools into which he could fall during a seizure and drown. In emergencies, I’m very glad my clients have cameras. During the off-season, I could slip on a pool deck and take a nasty fall (which I have!), perhaps breaking a leg (which I didn’t!). I’ve been in some neighborhoods where most of the houses are empty during the summer. Who would hear me scream? What if I were knocked unconscious? Thank God for the homeowner who monitors their screen and can call for help.
Our Heavenly Father is not a mean, cruel person who monitors our every movement just to “catch us in the act” and smite us. That’s not His loving nature. But according to His word, our Father is aware of every person’s need for help, however it manifests. Lose your job? Health takes a turn? Family conflict? Empty cupboards? Slip and fall on a pool deck? He sees it, and His help is already on the move. We may not think it is, and we may not think His help will come the way we think or want it to, but He has your situation well in hand because He’s watching.
What about those martyrs in Nigeria and around the world? He saw. And who knows how He helped them as they were surrendering their lives? Did he pull them out of their bodies, sparing them from the pain? Did He give them endurance until their ultimate departure? I don’t know. But I do know that our Father loves His children deeply, and He was there to help them in their most extreme and final moment of life. I trust Him. And you can, too, because He sees what you’re going through.
To oversee our lives:
“For a man’s ways are before the Lord’s eyes, and he considers all his paths” (Proverbs 5:21). When that voice came from over my head while I was cleaning the pool, reminding me to vacuum the bottom, I nearly jumped out of my skin, which would have been rather grisly and shocking for the observing homeowner. Good thing we can’t do that in real life, right? Well, the homeowner was only prompting me to consider the “path of cleaning his pool” that I was traveling that morning. He knew what I should do and what he wanted me to do, and sometimes I need a reminder or a little nudge to make sure I follow through.
So it is with the Lord. We’re under His constant scrutiny. As Ligonier Ministries puts it, “our Creator’s watchfulness does not consist merely in passive observance. God actually ‘ponders’ all of our paths. In a manner similar to how we consider and evaluate what we see, the Lord thinks on and judges all that He sees. What we do, say, think, and feel are not matters of passing concern for the great Judge of the universe. Instead, He considers all of these things with a focused intent. The tense of the verb ‘ponders’ in Hebrew suggests constant, ongoing action. God never ceases to scrutinize us, so there is no chance that He will overlook anything” (learn.ligonier.org/devotionals/our-ways-lord).
I love that. What an encouragement. Our Father is not a disinterested, passive dad. He’s actively involved in the life of every person who has ever lived, is living, and will live. This revelation brings to my mind Jesus’ teaching about not worrying. “Aren’t five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. Indeed, the hairs of your head are all counted. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Luke 12:6-7). In other words, if our Heavenly Father “sees” (is aware of, actively overseeing) insignificant things, how much more will He keep His eye on you, His child!
Here’s a saying to mull over: “We count what matters to us.” Every single human being matters so much to our Father that He knows the precise number of hairs on our head at any given moment. (Some of us are easier to count than others. Just sayin’.) If you ever feel down or insignificant, let that truth sink in. Furthermore, that which we count and care for, we protect. That brings me to my last point.
To protect:
“For the eyes of the Lord roam throughout the earth to show himself strong for those who are wholeheartedly devoted to him” (2 Chronicles 16:9), and “‘On that day’—this is the Lord’s declaration—’ I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness. I will keep a watchful eye on the house of Judah but strike all the horses of the nations with blindness’” (Zechariah 12:4).
Myriad scripture verses assure us of our Father’s protection, but let’s go back to our main verse. Yes, the Lord is “eyes on” regarding us, but He does so for a reason, “to show Himself strong for those who are wholeheartedly devoted to him.” He keeps His eye on us so He can act on our behalf when we’re weak and need His strength. And boy, do we need His strength every day!
There’s always a challenge that’s greater than our capacity to handle. No worries. Our Father is “eyes on,” and already helping us in many ways. Some days, I really need His strength to fight the heat and humidity. Other days, I need His help to maintain my integrity when I’m tempted to cut corners with my client.
But that’s nothing compared to the strength His persecuted children need in their time of trial. When you read some of their stories, it’s amazing how the Lord provided the survivors with the strength to escape, persevere, and even forgive their persecutors (see Voice of the Martyrs, persecution.com). My light and momentary needs are nothing in the light of their sacrifices.
And our Heavenly Father sees all of it.
He watches every person and holds them accountable for their actions, whether they do good or evil. He watches so He can help anyone with whatever need they have. He sees those who need help and protection.
He is our “Eyes On” Lord!
Be encouraged.
He will never close His eyes to you.
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Shining the Light of God’s Truth on the Road Ahead
Pastor Jay Christianson
The Truth Barista, Frothy Thoughts