God sees and he understands. This means we know we can trust him
By Dean Collins
What are you counting on these days? I imagine if I conducted a quick survey there would be many answers to that question. Some would ask a follow-up question before they answered: Are we talking about health? The economy? The next election? Global warming? My favorite team? My retirement account? And on and on. And our answers might be different in each of those cases.
The psalmist leads us to the best answer. Psalm 33:13 says, “The Lord looks down from heaven and sees the whole human race. From his throne he observes all who live on the earth. He made their hearts, so he understands everything they do.”
God sees and God knows. We have read many passages that say as much. We have heard many Bible teachers and pastors preach and teach as much. But our question really gets to the heart of the matter: Do we believe it? And are we counting on him in every situation? Solomon warned us not to lean on our own understanding. Frankly, in my own understanding I cannot truly comprehend the vastness of God’s power or the depth of his love. To do so we must exercise our faith. Surrender to God demands a surrender of self.
From the universe to our hearts
As disciples of Jesus, we believe God sees from the macro level of his universe to the micro level of our hearts. And he not only sees it all, he understands it all. He knows how the universe works, and he knows every detail of how the human system works—including the uniqueness of each of us. He knows our talents and he sees the broken places and the empty spaces and desires to fill them with his presence that we might be whole.
If we approach life’s large and small decisions through the worldview of the systems of the world—whether political, social, cultural, psychological, or intellectual—then we drift to counting on whatever insight and understanding these systems produce. But God is above and before all of them. This is in part why the psalmist says don’t count on your warhorse to give you victory; for all its strength, it cannot save you.
Neither warhorse nor war chest
Neither your warhorse nor your war chest can save you. You might have enough to buy a solution to a problem or two. You might be strong enough to knock out an enemy for a period of time. But for the decisions that impact eternity, we need eternal solutions.
You might argue that you can compartmentalize what is eternal and what is not. Is what you eat for breakfast an eternal decision? Maybe not, but how we take care of our bodies, including what we eat, may have an impact on the length of days we have to serve God. So maybe every decision does have eternal implications. This means it does matter not only what we are counting on, but who we are counting on.
Ask for his help
The psalmist continued: “But the Lord watches over those who fear him, those who rely on his unfailing love. He rescues them from death and keeps them alive in times of famine. We put our hope in the Lord. He is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone.”
Knowing that our eternal and almighty God sees whatever we are facing today and knows the ramifications of our next steps, we do well to ask for his help. He can be trusted completely. His love never fails. His help and strength have no end. His love surrounds us. If we are going to count on one thing and one source of hope, then our God is our sure foundation.
Lord, forgive us for the many times we fail to come to you for both the little and the big things. Your Word has taught us well to trust you, to pray to you, to come to you for wisdom, for rescue, for strength, and for protection. Forgive us for our stubborn thinking we can do it alone. Forgive us for seeking wisdom or strength from anyone but you. Thank you for your unfailing love that surrounds us. We declare that you are our hope and our eternal king. Hear our prayers for help today. We surrender ourselves to you and you alone. In the name of Jesus, amen.
Your time with God’s Word
Psalm 33:13-22 NLT
Photo by Alexei Scutari on Unsplash
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