You're Being Watched

Yesterday my wife finally graduated! She now has a Bachelor's degree and is certified to teach. At the Commencement at EMU's Convocation Center, where the basketball team plays, they had two huge video screens, and as the procession of graduates started, they were broadcasting them for all to see. It was humorous, because as the camera would focus in on people, they would suddenly notice themselves on the screen. It was funny to watch how they reacted to seeing themselves, and to the fact that everyone else was now watching them. Talk about the potential for an embarrassing moment. Good thing no one was picking their nose or anything!

Do we really understand that we also are being watched in our daily lives? We talk about the all-knowing, all-seeing God, but many of us take that knowledge for granted. The Lord Jesus is watching us constantly. And he isn't watching from a distance, no matter what Bette Midler sings. Psalm 139 is a passage of scripture that talks a lot about the all-seeing God. Basically, there isn't anything that we say, think or do that God does not see, good or bad. He saw us when we were yet in utero, and he sees us now. Let's look at a couple of verses from this Psalm:

"You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways"-vs. 3

"Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all."-vs. 4

"If I say, 'Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,' Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You." vs. 11-12

This can be both wonderful news, or frightening news to us. It's good because God sees us as we seek to truly honor him with our conduct. But it's frightening because he sees what we do when no one else is looking. He sees what we do in the dark, as verses 11 and 12 tell us. He's sees the things we watch, he sees the websites we visit. He knows the thoughts we think (vs. 2). It really doesn't matter what others say about you. You could have a good reputation as a godly person. But reputation and character are two different things. Reputation is what people think about you. Character is who you are when no one is around. It's who you are in the dark. But God sees you in the dark just as easily as in the light (vs. 12).

Whether we like or not, we are being watched. Don't let yourself ultimately be taken by surprise, like those graduates on the video screen. Honor the Lord with your life, not just when people are around, because the camera doesn't stop rolling when everyone goes away. Let you attitude be the same as David in this psalm. I will leave you today with his inspired words:

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way."-vs. 23-24

God bless!