watching

He sees you when you’re sleeping.
He knows when you’re awake.
He knows if you’ve been bad or good.
So be good for goodness sake!

“Santa Claus is Coming to Town”
John Frederick Coots | Haven Gillespie
© 1934

Every Christmas, children throughout the United States (and a lot of the world) are reminded throughout December that Santa Claus is watching and they’d better be good or they’d get a lump of coal in their stocking.

Ah…I love Christmas!

But we’re in springtime and a long way from Christmas—in either direction.  Nevertheless, we are being watched.  Not by a jolly elf from the North Pole with an army of do-gooder merry elves fashioning toys, but the God of the universe who is surrounded by the praises of angels, cherubim, seraphim and the saints.

Proverbs 5:21 reports

For your ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all your paths.

There is nothing hidden from the eyes of our Lord.  All the motivations of our hearts are known by the Lord.  This could be enough to make us shake in our boots and we probably would prefer Santa Claus BUT this is to our blessing.

Yes, our Lord knows everything about us.  Yes, He knows how selfish we are.  Yes, He knows.

But He loves us anyway.  We read in Psalm 139:5, “You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.”   He keeps us from flying apart at the seams because He is watching over and caring for us.  We don’t take a step without the eyes of our Master and Lord.  When things are falling apart, it happens within the protective gaze of the Creator of the Universe.

Yes, a part of this love is corrective.  Because we are sinful, there are times when He must use the paddle and correct us.  We are stubborn sheep and He knows this; punishing us is part of His role as our Heavenly Father.  But even when we are in the throws of punishment, our gracious Lord is doing it for our good and His glory (cf. Hebrews 12:4-11).

So as you move through your day and the rest of this week, perhaps you can remember our Lord sees you when you’re sleeping and He knows when you’re awake.  He certainly knows if you’ve been bad or good and He won’t love you less or more for it.