Is Anyone Watching

Like pawns in a game people go through life. They work. They play. They eat and sleep. They marry, They have children. They grow old. They die. Life is played out like ball players in a game in a huge stadium. What Christians believe is God is the audience.

Is anyone really watching? Is God truly viewing the mundane affairs of life as well as the sinister plots of satanic schemes? Is there truly an all seeing eye found in the Creator of the universe?

Many believe there is no God and the point of life is  to seek pleasure and power. It does not matter to them how these things are achieved. They are a morality unto themselves. Caution is thrown to the wind in the pursuit of hedonism.

There are others who believe that God sees everything, knows everything, and governs everything. This thought tempers the way they respond to temptations, tests, and their approach to life. In their mind, if God is watching, then they want to please Him and honor Him.

If God is really watching, I mean this morning and this very minute, watching me as I type does that make a difference? Yes. I do believe He is watching. He is keenly aware of my typing this blog but also of my thoughts, attitudes, motives, ambitions, desires, temptations, anxieties, peace, faith, fears, and all the rest. He sees right through me past the exterior and facade.

Since God is watching, not as an uninterested spectator in the stands of life, but as an active participant how then shall we live. It is true He watches. It is also true He works. Even now He is working circumstances together for His purposes, pulling together resources, connecting dots, opening opportunities, shutting doors, giving revelation, weaving  wonders, and working His will. He does all this because He is always watching and He is always working.

It doesn't always feel that way. At times it may seem He is very distant, uninterested, turning a deaf ear and a blind eye to us. This is not the case. At times it appears He is absent and silent. Though we cry out in desperation for His intervention and reassurance there are times when it seems like nobody is really there and no-one is watching.

Do not be deceived. He sees. He listens. He cares. Then why so many disappointments.?Why so much distress? Why so much despair? Why doesn't He always answer when we call? Why do prayers for physical healing often go unanswered? Why do desperate spouses' prayers for their marriage to heal and reconciliation to come go unheeded? Why does the pain linger? Why do the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper sometimes? It appears nobody is watching or working at all.

For the rest of our days we can ask our why questions. They are never ending. Like it or not, in the end it all comes back to faith. Do I trust God? Do we really believe He is, not only there, but that He is also watching?

I am not learned enough to answer all the why questions asked by bewildered and broken people. One lady recently commented to me after facing a severe test, "I do not know what I am supposed to be learning from this. What is God trying to teach me?" She went on to say how she alternates between tears of brokenness and desperate prayers for help and feelings of rage against God. All I could tell her is that after years of walking with the Lord it seems to me it all comes back to faith. Do we trust God?

What if the desired outcome does not happen? Does that prove God is not there or not watching? Not at all. God plans, thinks, works, and strategizes on a higher scale than we conceive. He does not have to keep going around proving Himself to skeptical humanity. He did that repeatedly in the Bible. Ultimately He did that in sending Jesus. God in human flesh. People still doubted then just like they do today.

Is anyone watching? Faith screams at me yes. Doubt may shout to you a different message. Eternity is a long time to stake on the belief nobody is really up there watching. Though I do not understand many things, though I have suffered, though I've had to endure severe trials, I still believe God is there watching, caring, listening, working, loving, and never forsaking.

So, on this early Thursday morning my heart is contented that my Father is watching. This thought comforts me. He sees every word typed on this screen. He knows I write to honor Him and to help His people. He also knows I believe He is watching. Like a loving father watching over His children so He watches you and me. Don't be too quick to judge Him. You do not know the end of the story and can only see life from the present. God watches. He saw the beginning. He watches now. He has already seen the end. Trust Him.