Recently I heard a story relayed by a father of a time when he was watching his two young daughters play on a jungle gym, in particular, the dangerous and daunting monkey-bars.
He mentioned that albeit that he could see all the other children who were playing on the jungle gym at that time. His eyes, his attention, was fixed on his daughters. And, as I am sure most parents have in their parenting lives, when the girls seemed to be heading for the ground, he was there to scoop them up in his arms to ensure that no harm comes upon them.
Now, this man, was only a mere person just like you and me. Now imagine the perfect three times Holy, God. How much more attentive how much more His eyes are fixed on us, His children.
In Psalm 33:13-15 the scripture states, “From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind; from His dwelling place He watches all who live on earth-He who forms the hearts of all who considers everything they do.”
What the Psalmist under the Holy-Spirit’s inspiration is telling us is that God sees it all. Now that can be good or bad news for us depending on what we are doing, haha! But the truth of the matter is, is that God sees all things to a deeper degree than we can fathom.
He sees everything that happens on earth. More so, He even understands the inclinations of our hearts and minds before any action is even taken. Now that is sovereign power!
But what does Psalm 33:18-19 tell us? “But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.”
Wow! Beloved, this means that those who revere the Lord (fear Him), His eyes are on you! He is seeing everything all at once in the world. He sees everything around us even in terms of all the people in the world, but beloved, His affection, His attention, is set on us! Isn’t that incredible?
Because like a dad at the jungle gym sees all the children at once in the setting but has His attention on His daughters. So, does our Heavenly Abba see all things but is focused on us as His children in Christ.
So often, people of the cross, us followers of Jesus can become so forgetful that we have an Abba, a Dad in heaven who is almighty to save. He is able, as the Psalm says in Ps.33:19, “To deliver us from death and keep us alive in famine.”
Very often, I have encountered myself and I am sure many others becoming weighed down by the pressures of life as if we had to navigate the pressures of life by our own strength.
Because the reality is food prices are increasing, finances are more constrained, life seems to be lived in the daily reality of the shadow of death with our health being pummeled by a mirage of various onslaughts of bad diagnoses. We live in a rat race where everything might appear to hinge on us.
But here the Psalmist reminds the people of Israel that as you Hope in your Father in Heaven’s, steadfast love, He will be the one that delivers you from death and famine, from the circumstances that life has to throw at us.
Beloved, this promise is even deeper for us who are in Christ Jesus.
On the night before Jesus was executed as our atoning sacrifice, He told His disciples in the upper room of a hope that would come after He rose from death and ascended back to the Father. In John 14:16-18, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever – The Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” (Emphasis, Mine).
People of the cross, we are not orphans, we are adopted into the family by Jesus Christ and have now received the Holy-Spirit, living in all of us who believe.
Now, what does that mean? It means that we face nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing in this life by ourselves. We have a Father!
That means in the tough times He is there. In the good times He is there. When you don’t have the strength to push forward, He is there to guide you into truth, comfort you and show you the way forward.
Beloved of Christ, our God is sovereign and in control. I encourage you read Psalm 33 in its totality and see the sovereign power of God over the universe, our world and its nations. But see the grace and mercy that He has given us. That we can become His children, despite our sinful natures. With His eyes on us, to give us support where we need it. With His Spirit now living in us we are never alone. All challenges we go through, the Spirit can turn around and use for good.
Beloved, we are not climbing the daunting jungle gyms of life alone. Our Dad is with us, with a close eye to protect us. Never forget that.
Rom 5:3-5, “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy-Spirit, who has been given to us.”
You are not alone.
Love in Jesus always,
Andrew