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Eyes in the Back of My Head

From his dwelling place [God] watches all who live on earth. Psalm 33:14

I was as mischievous as any other child in my early years and tried to hide my bad behavior to avoid getting into trouble. Yet my mother usually found out what I had done. I recall being amazed at how quickly and accurately she knew about my antics. When I marveled and asked how she knew, she always replied, “I have eyes in the back of my head.” This, of course, led me to study her head whenever she’d turn her back—were the eyes invisible or merely cloaked by her red hair? As I grew, I gave up looking for evidence of her extra pair of eyes and realized I just wasn’t quite as sneaky as I had supposed. Her watchful gaze was evidence of her loving concern for her children.

As grateful as I am for my mother’s attentive care (despite being occasionally disappointed I hadn’t gotten away with something!), I’m even more grateful that God “sees all mankind” as He looks upon us from heaven (Psalm 33:13). He sees so much more than what we do; He sees our sadness, our delights, and our love for one another.

God sees our true character and always knows exactly what we need. With perfect vision, which even sees the inner workings of our hearts, He watches over those who love Him and put their hope in Him (v. 18). He’s our attentive, loving Father.

How does it comfort you to know that God sees everything and is watching over you? What has He been doing recently to sharpen your character?

Dear Father, thank You for watching over all people and for seeing what happens in our world and in my life.

INSIGHT

Parallelism is a literary tool that helps writers to creatively emphasize and clarify ideas and concepts by repeating a similar or opposite idea. In Psalm 33, the writer uses this feature of Hebrew poetry superbly to emphasize the Lord’s power and care for His people. In verse 6, God’s Word as the agent of creation is highlighted by the similar terms “word of the LORD” and “breath of his mouth.” “Heavens” and “starry host” are also synonymous terms. Parallelism also helps in defining terms: “Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere him” (v. 8). No guesswork here about what it means to fear the Lord. It means to “revere him”; to “stand in awe” of him (esv).

Arthur Jackson

By |2019-07-18T12:14:39-04:00July 23rd, 2019|
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