This fact used to bother me quite a bit when I was a nine year old girl in the bathtub. I mean, all I wanted was my privacy. I was finally old enough to get my two sisters out of there and no parents to bathe me; I certainly didn’t want God showing up at a time like that.
I feel so differently now. The fact that the Lord watches over me is such anencouragement to my soul. I only wish I were more aware of His watchful eye ona regular basis. This is the goal of my spiritual life.
I love Psalm 121 and the way it reminds me of God’s watchful help on my journey. We are all on a journey to where we were created to be which is with our loving creator living in a world without sin. These 80 or so years we have on this earth are filled with the effects of sin—our own and others’ sins against us. There is no way to get around the reality of sin. That is why God’s watchful eye is so meaningful. Psalm 121:7-8 says,
“The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”
Talk about being worried about Big Brother, we can’t get away from our Lord’s careful watch no matter what we are up to. It’s a little easier to feel safe in the hands of our Lord’s watching rather than in man’s observations of me. I know that God’s watch is only always out of His immense love for me.
Of course, this fact doesn’t take away the reality that God knows how I treated my husband this morning—another uncomfortable thought…worse than God seeing me in the bathtub! Still I find comfort in this: I know that He is the only One who knows all about me and loves me completely. The whole notion that God is watching me at all times and knows how many times I sin each day but never stops watching and never turns away in disgust and disappointment, just opens my heart to the greatness of His love.
Now that I am comfortable with His watch, I would like to increase my notice. Psalm 123:1 says,“I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven”. Here’s a great application to knowing He is watching me; why don’t I watch back? I can lift up my eyes to Him, rather than giving my attention to lesser things of earth. The more I lift up my eyes to Him perhaps the better I will be at responding to the problems I face on earth.
Here’s another Celtic Prayer that drives home this thought.
I beseech you, Jesus, loving Savior,
to show yourself to all who seek you so that we may know you and love you.
May we love you alone, desire you alone, and keep you always in our thoughts.
May love for you possess our hearts.
May affection for you fill our senses, so that we may love all else in you.
Jesus, King of Glory,
You know how to give greatly
And you have promised great things.
Nothing is greater than yourself.
We ask nothing else of you but yourself.
You are our life, our light, our food, and our drink, our God and our all.
AN ANCIENT IRISH PRAYER