God is Watching You Part 2

by John Lowe
(Laurens SC, USA)

There is another group who seem to always be the recipients of witnessing. For example, a young man may leave home because his father is constantly praying for him and asking him to go to church. He may get his own apartment and a job, so he can do whatever he wants. But God is watching him. The apartment manager asked him if he was saved, and tells him what God has done in his life. One of the men he works with asks him to come to Bible Study and church with him. He thinks he has got out of the frying pan and into the fire. He had come here to get away from religion and here it is. Everywhere he goes; there is some gracious man or woman ready to lead him to the Lord.

Now, that is our first point: that there are some people who seem to be especially watched by God.

And our second point is that they are very likely to dislike this watching. Job is not pleased with it. He asks, "Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?"

These people, who God pays so much attention to, are foolish enough to complain that they feel hedged in, and the thought that God has his eye on them, bothers them. Do you know what they would like? They would like to be at liberty to sin. They would like to be turned loose to do whatever their wild desires wants to do. They would like to do away with all the restraints on what the world says are “pleasures.” They would like to live where no Christian friend would ever witness to them again. They will tell you that they want liberty: liberty to ruin themselves; liberty to jump into hell before their time.

There has been a lot of destruction done in the name of liberty: free thinking, free living, free loving, and all that. It’s a real misuse of terms to use the word free in connection with sin. Those who ask for freedom to sin are committing soul-suicide. There are many today who wish that their hearts were as hard as many others are. Some people can drink any quantity of liquor and seem that they are not affected by it. They envy those who are foul-mouthed and can swear until they are blue in the face, while they can only say a curse or two; then they feel that God has caught them.

Young men wish they were as tough as old so-and-so and as much of a dare-devil as he is. The hardened sinner is foolishly envied and looked upon as a man’s man. But is it bravery or wickedness to ruin one's soul? Is it good to have a scorched conscience? We don’t envy the blind because they can’t see danger or the deaf because they can’t hear the alarm; so why envy the hardened old sinner because he has become blind and deaf?

There are certain people who God will not allow to descend into rottenness, but they are almost angry when restrained. A tender conscience is a great possession, but some do not realize its value. Instead, they want a heart as hard as steel. God can inflict no judgment worse than letting a man have his own way. If God says, “Let him alone,” there is only one other word more dreadful and that is the final sentence, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels.”

People do not like being surrounded by God; they don’t like the bit in their mouth, so they want to forget all about God. If tomorrow the news said that God was dead, who would mourn? It would be the greatest relief in the world to many godless men and women if they could feel sure there was no God. To some of us, this news would be death: we would have lost our Father, our Comforter, our Savior, our all. But for many, who cannot be sure that there is no God, they try to forget Him. If God is out of mind, He is out of the world to the careless sinner.

When God comes to a man, He causes inner fears, and awakens the conscience, and hauls them over the coals, so that the man pauses; then he knows there is a God because he feels the power which works against his sin. He longs to get away from this secret force which works against his sin, but it wraps him up.He doesn’t read his Bible, but scripture comes to his memory. It has been a long time since he has knelt in prayer, but still, he feels that there is a God, and, somehow, that belief sounds a trumpet blast through his soul, and brings a message to mind. Turn from your sin, and turn to God! This message rings in his ears and he cannot get away from it. That is when he cries out, “Why am I this way? Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?”

There is another group of persons who not only enjoy their sin, but they delight in leading others into sin. The terrible thing about this is that someday they will be joined by those they lead to hell; they will be cursed by them for eternity for bringing them to such a terrible place. And there are even some mothers and fathers, who have led their children into sin, and someday they will curse them to their face for bringing them to that terrible place. I believe there are those who would like to have a license to commit immorality, and they are grieved when they are hindered in their acts of sin.

This is why some lash out against God. I know that degraded habits are often the reason that men kick against the restraint of God’s loving hand. I pray that God will stop them altogether, and transform their minds so that instead they will seek God’s forgiveness. May God grant that we will be shielded from the evil acts of others, and guided by the Holy Spirit into repentance and faith.

The third point to make is this...that IT IS A VERY BAD THING TO ARGUE AGAINST THE WAY THE LORD DEALS WITH US.

Job asked, “Am I a sea, or whale, that thou settest a watch over me?” Listen. It is very unwise for us to argue with God from our insignificant position. And the little things, like us, are the ones that need to be watched the most. If you were a sea or a whale, God might leave you alone, but because you are both feeble and sinful, and can cause more hurt than the sea or a whale, you need constant watching. In our life, we usually fall to the very little things.

A person doesn’t need to fear his dog half as much as a mosquito or bee, which may sting you when you least expect it. It’s the little things that we watch for the most, therefore it is not good reasoning to complain that God watches us as if we were a sea or a whale.After all, there is no one here this morning, who is not like the sea or a sea-monster in this respect, so we need to be watched over. Our hearts are as changeable and deceitful as the sea.

Today we are as calm as a sea of glass, but tomorrow we may cause rolling waves of discord. You cannot trust the sea, but I would have more confidence in it than in the loyalty of some men. Many men and women come to church and stand up and sing the songs of Zion, but on Monday they join their associates in cursing and drinking. We are so good when we are down on our knees with others praying, but we look just like the rest of the world when we are away from church. It is easy to have a calm sea when there is no wind, but how different is the ocean when a gale is blowing! We are all very well when far away from temptation, but how are we when the devil's servants are around us?