January 7 - Eyes of God and Eyes of Man

God is all-knowing -- His eye sees everything, nothing is hidden from Him. He does not delight in wickedness and evil may not dwell with Him. The boastful shall not stand before His eye, He hates all evildoers and they cannot come into His presence. To enter into His sanctuary, one must have the fear of God and rids oneself of all abominations that God detests.

The eye of the Lord is upon all who are in need. Hagar knew it well when she escaped from Sarai’s house. God did not forget her but His eye was upon her. So Hagar called the Lord “You are a God of seeing” for she said, “Truly here I have seen Him who looks after me.” Hagar saw God and knew that God is a God of seeing, nothing escaped Him and He cared for her and her child.

The human eye is the window to the soul, it reveals who he is and what is inside of him. What a person sees directs his life. Jesus says that the eye is the light of one’s life and we need to tend to the inner light for it brings light to the whole body. The Chinese has a saying about “small eyes of the heart”, referring to those who are so self-centered that they cannot see beyond their own interests. For many of us, our eyes are upon the things that immediately affect us.

Some of our eyes are on the people around us, how they look at us and so we have to do something to please or impress them. The fear of man brings, therefore, false spirituality. They publicize their good deeds before man and seek the praises of man. They make long and repetitive prayers to gain favor from others. So the Lord told them that they had received their reward (man’s praise) already.

Others are setting their eyes on their hurts and wounds, on the injustice they have suffered from the hands of others. To not forgive is to set one’s eyes upon the offender and as a result, they are kept in bondage and God would not forgive their own sins. Still others set their eyes on wealth and riches, drawing their hearts away from God and His eternal riches. One cannot love God and money at the same time, you either love one and hate the other. Yet many have become haters of God through not forgiving others or through the love of money.

Let us learn a lesson from Hagar who realized that God is a God who sees. He knows everything and we are living under His all-seeing eye. He sees our needs and the desires of our hearts. He is ready to bless and prosper us as long as our eyes are upon Him and not on other things. What are you looking at in this time of your life? Turn your eyes upon Jesus now. When His eye meet yours, everything else will be fine. Nothing is impossible with God!