A Too Common Scene

II Kings 14:23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. 24 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. 25 He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher. 26 For the Lord saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, and there was none to help Israel. 27 But the Lord had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.  

We saw yesterday that King David did not always do what was right in the sight of God. Yet, he was "a man after God's own heart." That cannot be said for many of the kings who came after him. They did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Jeroboam II was a prime example.  Yet, God often mercifully spared the people all the judgment they deserved, seeing that the affliction of Israel was very bitter. How are we to respond to that? To begin with, we should not take the mercy of God for granted, as Israel and her leaders often did. His mercy does not negate His holiness and Justice. Rather, it calls us to remember what kind of God He is, that He does see and does care, and all of our life is before Him.  May we not be evil before Him. 

God Saw and Relented...

I Chronicles 21:14 So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel, and 70,000 men of Israel fell. 15 And God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but as he was about to destroy it, the Lord saw, and he relented from the calamity. And he said to the angel who was working destruction, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 16 And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, and in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.

This chapter begins with Satan tempting David to "number" Israel.  It was a successful appeal to pride, and it brought great disaster, with the Lord sending punishment on Israel for it.  David took responsibility for his actions, placing himself into the hands of God.  We are told above that just before attacking the capital city, the Lord saw, but it does not say what He saw which made Him back off from His plan. What He saw was the humility of the people and the repentance of David.  These proper responses to God's hand of judgment led on more than one occasion to His withdrawing His hand.  Confession, repentance, and humility are always a proper response when we understand God has seen our evil deeds and we deserve proper punishment. What do you know God has seen in you? How have you responded to Him?

The God Who Sees Turns His Face

 Deuteronomy 32:15 “But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked;
    you grew fat, stout, and sleek;
then he forsook God who made him
    and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
16 They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;
    with abominations they provoked him to anger.
17 They sacrificed to demons that were no gods,
    to gods they had never known,
to new gods that had come recently,
    whom your fathers had never dreaded.
18 You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you,
    and you forgot the God who gave you birth.
19 “The Lord saw it and spurned them,
    because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
20 And he said, ‘I will hide my face from them;
    I will see what their end will be,
for they are a perverse generation,
    children in whom is no faithfulness.

Yesterday, we saw in the early chapters of this book the call to remember the God Who Sees and Does. He was the One who delivered the people and brought them into the land of abundance. This chapter gives warning of what happens when we forget - when we are unmindful of the Rock that bore you. When they would do that (and they did) He would "hide His face." He would still "see" what they were doing, but not see to act on their behalf.  He would turn His back on those who acted as if He did not exist.  Do we?

Worship the God Who Sees

 Deuteronomy 26:5 “And you shall make response before the Lord your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. 6 And the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. 7 Then we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8 And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders. 9 And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O Lord, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God. 11 And you shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you.

As Moses gives his challenge to the people before they enter the promised land, he looks back on the things that began in Exodus 2 and 3, when He first encountered The God Who Sees.  He reminds his people of all that God had done for them - things they never could have done on their own. The proper response was one of thanksgiving and worship. He gave them a way to respond which was fitting with His merciful and gracious acts on their behalf.  Realizing God has "seen" us should result in a similar response.

When God Sees, He Sends

Exodus 3:7 Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” 

We began yesterday to look at Moses' discovery of the God Who sees, hears, and knows. When he stopped to look at the burning bush he encountered Him.  That began this conversation with God speaking first.  God saw and was going to do something - through Moses. God saw it all - good and bad - mostly bad. He was about to act and Moses had gotten a glimpse of His plan. That put Moses in a position to be sent. Like him, we often want to run at that point.  That's really not a valid option.  It is often easier for us to see when God is calling someone else, and to rejoice at what He does.  It is much harder for us to say "yes, Lord."  What will you say today?

Stop to See That He Sees

Exodus 3:2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

We saw yesterday that God "saw" the sufferings of the people of Israel.  That "seeing" was much more than a glance.  It was an initiation of action.  The question was, and always is:"who will join Him in His plan?" Who will stop to see something needs to be done, God is at work, and we have an opportunity to be a part of His plan?  When we walk through life as if God is not real, not around, and uninvolved, we will not be able to see all this.  Here Moses stopped to see and it changed his life and changed life for millions of others.  Today, will you stop and see, then listen to what He's trying to say to you?

God Sees Our Suffering

Exodus 3:24,25 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel-and God knew.

This is one of a few passages where we find together God seeing, hearing, and knowing. When we see any of them individually, God is about to do something. When we see all three, He is about to do something big. The Exodus was such a time. The picture here is not that God just “took a glance.” He intently looked at His people with a heart and mind to interact and involve Himself above and beyond His usual daily providence.  Often times we wonder if God sees and cares about us in the tough times of life.  We ignore the fact that He is already providing, protecting, and presenting Himself to us for interaction on a daily basis. We are then surprised at times like these, when God goes ahead and speaks more loudly and clearly and visually (as we’ll see in chapter 3), and struggle to find the faith to believe.  God sees our suffering – every bit of it, and as the Psalmist says: our tears are in His bottle.  Live life today believing and trusting His is watching.