GOD ALWAYS in ALL WAYS - Part 1
GOD ALWAYS SEEING – PROVERBS 15:3
INTRO: There is a fancy word I want you to learn thismorning. ANTHROPOMORPHIC? This is a theological term. This wordis not as hard to understand as it is to pronounce. It is a compound word.First word is where we get our word anthropology which you may remember fromyour high school days as ‘the study of man or mankind or humanity’. The secondword is where we get our word from the idea of having a form (metamorphous –caterpillar to butterfly). Anthropomorphismis a big, fancy term that theologians use for ascribing human characteristics orform to God. In our theme for this year GOD ALWAYS IN ALL WAYS we’re going toexplore why it’s so important that…
Godsees. God hears. God speaks. Anthropomorphism ascribes to God the same physicalfunctions we humans have so that we can better understand him and how heoperates. For example, we might say, When God sees, he sees with his eyes. WhenGod hears, he hears with his ears. When God speaks, he speaks with his mouth. Goddoes not physically have these functions of the human body because “God is a spirit”John 4:24. Anthropomorphism simply makes it a bit easier for us to fathom God.
TheBible teaches over and over that God sees what we do. Listen to how thepsalmist wrote it:
TheLORD looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men.
Fromthe place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of theearth.
Hefashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works. Psalm33:13–15
Did you notice that all was usedthree times in this passage? Read it again slowly. God sees everything. He“watches all” our deeds. Like an eagle searching from the sky, nothing getspast him—nothing. He sees everything we do. God is sitting on his throne (more anthropomorphisticlanguage), and from there, his eyes are on us no matter where we go.
*Theeyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. Proverbs15:3
InEzekiel 1:18, God is represented by what the Bible calls “living creatures”that are “full of eyes”. The implication is clear: God is a God who sees.
Jesusalso taught that God the Father sees what we are doing. He sees when we pray.He sees when we give. In maybe Jesus’s most famous teaching, the Sermon on theMount, he shared that God sees even what we do in secret—when we give or praywithout anyone else knowing, God knows Matthew 6:6.
I. GOD ALWAYS THE SAME
A. There seems to be an app for everything these days.Sometimes one comes along that catches the country’s attention for a few weeks.Not too long ago, the craze was an app that aged your face. When people puttheir photographs in, this app automatically aged them, wrinkles and all,twenty, thirty, or forty years down the road. I’m not interested in trying itsince I have arrived at that stage of life already.
B. I think peopleloved that app and shared their aging pictures not just because it was funnybut because they wonder about their future. We question what we’re going tolook like. Will my mind be as sharp? Will my body be strong and agile?
C. While anthropomorphism has its strengths, one place itfalls short is that when ascribing human characteristics to God, we also attachhuman weakness and frailty to him. I fear, like with FaceApp, we may assume Godis aging, so to speak. He’s old. He can’t see as clearly as he once did.Getting a bit senile. Forgetful. We might even think he has to take a nap fromtime to time. After all, that is what old people do. And if God is sleeping,he’s not watching. No wonder he’s not seeing me in this tight spot I’m in. Nowonder he’s not coming through for me. He’s sleeping. Or is he?
D. We need to remember that although we use human traitsto describe God, he is not human. In fact, the psalmist recorded that God neversleeps: *Psalm 121 How different God is from us! He doesn’t sleep. He neverneeds a nap. We can know with confidence that nothing gets by him. He seeseverything we do. And because he is God, because he never sleeps, he also seeswhat we don’t. Remember where God is positioned? He is sitting on his throne,looking down from above.
II. GOD ALWAYS IN CHARGE
A. If you have a limited understanding of football, youat least know that they have what is called the press box in the stadium. Thebox is where the media, the announcers and most offensive and defensivecoordinators spend their time during games. They sit there because of theperspective it offers. A coach on the sidelines can’t see the whole field.
B. From the press box, the coordinators can see how theother team is lining up. They can watch which players are being substituted inand out. Because they see things from a different perspective, they can helpdetermine a better strategy for winning the game. Where they are positioned inthe press box allows them to see what others can’t.
C. You get the analogy, right? Because of God’s uniqueposition, he sees things we don’t. He doesn’t see just our obedience anddisobedience. He sees our motives—he sees why we obey or disobey.
1. “I the LORD search the heart, [I] try the reins, even to give every manaccording to his ways, [and] according to the fruit of his doings.” Jeremiah17:10
2. “Every way of a man [is] right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereththe hearts.” Proverbs 21:2
D. Do you rememberSamuel, the Old Testament prophet? God told him to visit a man named Jesse andto anoint one of Jesse’s sons as the next king of Israel. The first son’s namewas Eliab. Samuel was impressed with Eliab from the start. He was strong. Hewas tall. He was handsome. Surely, this was the next king. But God was notnearly as impressed with Eliab.
1. “But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on theheight of his stature; because I have refused him: for [the LORD seeth] not asman seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh onthe heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7
2. God sees what we don’t! That is a good thing. Sometimes we think thathe’s not watching and that he doesn’t see what we see. Maybe he just doesn’tcare. But I’ve learned that it’s what He sees and we don’t that can be thebiggest factor of all, the greatest proof that he cares more than we canimagine.
E. Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.God doesn’t always respond to our prayers the way we want because he sees whatwe don’t. God is the ultimate air-traffic controller! On the internet site FlightAwarethey keep track of all (or at least most) of the aircraft in our skies in realtime. According to their stats on this past Friday “there were tracking 16,093 planes—carrying more than 14,000,000 people—inthe sky at any given time.” God sees them all. God keeps track of them all. Godmakes the call to keep them from hitting one another in the sky and guides themto land safely. In our lives, God sees all the pieces at play. When it comes toour lives, he sees what will bring us harm. He sees what will bring him themost glory. He sees the effect of every choice we make before we make it!
1. This is why we can believe with confidence the promise Paul wrote tothe church in Rome: “And we know that all things work together for good to themthat love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.” Romans8:28. What we see is limited; what God sees is not. Theologian John Pipertweeted this statement, and I kept it as a favorite: “God is always doing10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.”
2. God sees what we don’t! God sees the invisible reality of the spiritualbattle taking place all around us right now. He even sees our adversary, thedevil, prowling around like a roaring lion seeking to devour us 1 Peter 5:8.Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus: *Ephesians 6:11–12 EX:* 2 Kings 6: 13-17
3. If the curtains could be pulled back for us to see what God sees, wewould be stunned. We would also be terrified. Because he loves and cares forus, God lets us know in his Word what is really going on, including the unseenbattle we are in and the invisible enemies we are up against. God sees what wedo. God sees what we don’t. God also sees what has us down.
III. GOD WHO SEES MEI have always loved studying the different names of God. Throughout the OldTestament, God revealed himself and his ways to people by using differentnames.
A. Consider Abraham’s journey to Mount Moriah to obeyGod’s command to sacrifice his son Isaac. I still can’t imagine what was goingthrough Abraham’s mind as he made the three-day trek up the mountain.
1. After arriving at the specific place where he was to sacrifice his son,Abraham tied Isaac to the altar and raised his knife. In that moment ofAbraham’s complete surrender and obedience, God stopped him from going throughwith this sacrifice and instead provided a ram caught in a thicket. It was asubstitute for Isaac. The Bible tells us, “And Abraham called the name of thatplace Jehovahjireh: as it is said [to] this day, In the mount of the LORD itshall be seen.” Genesis 22:14.
2. From that day on, God would be known as Jehovah-Jireh, which means “theLord’s provision shall be seen.” The names of God are revealed throughoutScripture, and I have found them to be extremely meaningful.
B. One of the names used to describe God’s character andnature is El Roi. Can you guess what it means? “The God who sees.” Howincredible is that? God is not just a God who sees. He is a personal God whosees me. He sees you.
1. This name of God was first revealed.to Hagar. Abraham had a lot going for him in Scripture.He was wealthy. He was blessed by God. He was chosen to be the father of anation that God promised to favor. There was one issue, though. For Abraham tofather a nation, he had to first father a child. But his wife, Sarah, wasbarren, that is she could not get pregnant. I can only imagine the hurt andfrustration that caused.
2. Having a new baby dedication service is always a great joy. It’s aspecial day as parents dedicate the children God has given them and promise infront of the church to raise those children in a way that honors the Lord. Butit’s a sad day, too, because while we are celebrating babies being born and newfamilies being formed, it’s a reminder to some people of what they don’t have.God has yet to bless them with a child. They want to start a family, but Godhasn’t allowed it yet for some reason.
3. It’s painful. It’s frustrating. It can also cause bitterness toward Godif they’re not careful. When I read Abraham and Sarah’s story, this is where Ithink they were. God had promised them a child, but he was not delivering.Every day that went by was another day of disappointment and a dreamunfulfilled.
4. Finally, they got tired of waiting. God wasn’t coming through on theirtimetable. He must have forgotten them or gone back on his promise. Theydecided to take the situation into their own hands. God doesn’t see their pain.He must not be watching over them like he promised. We’ll just do what we needto do, they thought.
5. Sarah went to Abraham and said, “Behold now, the LORD hath restrainedme from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtainchildren by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.” Genesis 16:2.Problem solved, right? Hardly. Instead, it was problem started. This is usuallyhow it works when we take things into our own hands. Things went bad almost assoon as Hagar learned she was pregnant. Sarah became jealous and bitter towardHagar. The Bible says she “dealt hardly” with Hagar. Hagar was just a servant.She had no real rights. She was simply doing what her master told her to do.Now she was in trouble, even despised, for it. She had no one to plead her caseto. She had no one to turn to. She had nowhere to go. So, she ran away. Hagarran into the desert to get away from Sarah and from her situation. She had beentreated unjustly and was a broken woman. She was tired. She was alone.
6. I can’t imagine the pain she was in. I can’t imagine the sense ofhopelessness, the heartache, the grief. Probablyshe thought that no one cared and that God had forgotten her. It was in thismoment of brokenness and despair that an angel of the Lord appeared to her andtold her to go back and submit to Abraham and Sarah. The angel promised thatHagar would have a son and that he would have offspring too numerous to count.God revealed himself to her. Listen to her response: “And she called the nameof the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I alsohere looked after him that seeth me?” verse 13. In that moment, Hagar gave Goda new name. I’ve never thought of naming God. It seems above my pay grade. ButHagar used this amazing moment to name God El Roi—“the God who sees.”
CONCLUSION: What Hagar could say of God we can also say of him.He is the God who sees. He sees what we’re running from, what has us down. Isit a broken relationship? Is it abuse from your past? Is it a secret sin you’restruggling with? Is it that the bills are piling up and you don’t know whenrelief is going to come? Is it a miscarriage? Or the inability to get pregnant?Is it an addiction? Is it an illness or injury? Is it the death of a loved one?God sees. He sees what we are going through, and it matters to him. This is whyPeter told Christians, “Casting all your cares on him for he careth for you.” 1Peter 5:7.
BOTTLEDTEARS There is a Bible verse that is very fitting here. “Thou tellest mywanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: [are they] not in thy book?” Psalm56:8 I’ve been a pastor long enough to know that when tragedy strikes andsomeone is experiencing grief and heartache, there’s nothing anyone can say tomake things better. We want to say something because it’s human nature. We loveour friends. We don’t want them to hurt. We want them to know God has notforgotten them. But saying something isn’t usually the answer.
I think that no matter what has you down or iscausing you to question whether God really sees you, someone telling yousomething isn’t going to help you either. Maybe, though, painting a wordpicture would help. This is what the psalmist was doing. Those tears you arecrying—God sees them and is keeping every one of them in a bottle. Thecontinual twisting and turning on your bed—he sees you and knows exactly whatis keeping you awake. Someday all who have put their faith in Jesus willreceive a surprise ending of how God works everything out. We will realize wewere never alone. God was on our side and was working undercover, bringingtogether plans of which we were completely unaware. That may help you rightnow. It may not. Either way, you can be sure of this: God is a God who sees. Hesees you.