7. God: A Watching Father Psalm 33:18-19

Text:  “Behold, (Look and understand!) the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear (reverence) Him, upon them that hope in His mercy.”

                                                                                                                  Psalm 33:18.

Good morning, Divinely-observed Christian!  No matter where you and I go; no matter where you and I are at any given time - our Heavenly Father is watching over us and observing our every action.  He is NOT the ‘God of the big stick’, watching and waiting for us to fall into disobedience so as He can whack us with the rod of chastisement.  No.  He is watching over us for our good, our Eternal good, that our expectations might be of Him and not of mere human hand or will.  Hallelujah!

Dictionary Definition:  Expectation - (noun/verb) the act or state of expecting; the prospect of future good; that which is or may fairly be expected; that which should happen, according to general norms of custom or behaviour; the degree of probability; the value of something expected… (The Chambers Dictionary, page 568)

In Christ Jesus, we who are Spiritually born again of Him, have great expectation indeed - because we are promised Eternal life through His Sacrifice at the Cross - and in our present lives daily we have the assurance that the Lord God is watching over us for our good.  Now this is a thought that should encourage every true Christian believer today.  Hallelujah!  We are Eternally secure in Christ and our every need is provided.

“But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”  (Philippians 4:19)

“But, what happens when I completely fail the Lord and fall into disobedience to His revealed will?”, I hear some cry.  “If the Lord is watching over me when this disobedience occurs - surely He will not think of my good, but will punish me instead?”

Our Lord God Almighty is a Holy Lord God Who must punish all sin and all disobedience to His perfect and Sovereign will.  However, for we who are saved by Christ’s Atonement, He has already punished our sin, when it was laid upon our Saviour, Jesus Christ, at Calvary. 

Our sin - past, present, and future sins - were all laid upon Christ on Calvary’s Cross, and He took the blame and received the due punishment for us! 

The sin question - as far at our Standing in God’s Family is concerned - is forever settled by Christ’s Substitutionary Sacrifice.  When we sin in acts of disobedience in our daily State, our daily lives today, we must confess that sin, repent from that sin, and seek to the best of our ability not to commit such sin again.  The Lord is continually watching over us for our good.  This is State & Standing Theology.

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us.”  (1 John 1:8-10)

Disobedience and sin separate us in fellowship with our Holy Lord God and breaks the spirit of unity within our sphere of Christian fellowship.  But nothing can separate us from the Lord God in our Family Standing - Salvation is of the Lord, not ourselves!  His Heavenly eyes are forever watching over ‘His people’ for our good.

“And she (Mary) shall bring forth a Son, and thou (Joseph) shalt call His Name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins.”  (Matthew 1:21)

Verse 18. “The eye of the Lord is upon.  Look upon the sun, how it casts light and heat upon the whole world in its general course, how it shineth upon the good and the bad with an equal influence; but let its beams be but concentrated in a burning-glass; then it sets fire on the object only, and passeth by all others.  Thus God, in the Creation looketh upon all His works with a general love - errant omnia valde bona - they pleased Him very well.  Oh!  But when He is pleased to cast the beams of His love, and cause them to shine upon His elect through Christ, then it is that their hearts burn within them, then it is that their affections are inflamed; whereas others are but as it were a little warmed, have a little shine of common graces cast upon them.”  (Richard Holdsworth 1590-1649)

The Lord God looks with such heart-burning love upon all His obedient children and delivers us from all evil and harm.  Our Father is watching over us for good.

Verse 19.  “To deliver their soul from death.  The Lord’s hand goes with His eye; His Sovereignty preserves those whom He graciously observes.  Rescues and restorations hedge about the lives of the saints; death cannot touch them till the King signs His warrant and gives him leave, and even then his touch is not so much mortal as immortal; he doth not so much kill us as kill our mortality.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 164)

Verse 19.  “To keep them alive in famine.  “The Lord is MY Shepherd, I shall not want.”  Hallelujah!  What a wonderful and abundantly gracious Lord God we serve!  Let us walk before Him in obedience and adoring love.  Amen.

Thought:  “Behold, (Look and understand!) the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear (reverence) Him, upon them that hope in His mercy.” (Psalm 33:18)