Reflections
“I’ll Be Watching You”
Have you ever looked for something on Google and all of a sudden that product or something similar or associated with that product pops us on every internet page you go to? You have a tree fall down in your yard so you do an internet search for “Tree Services” and all of a sudden you are bombarded with all types of tree service advertisements. You go to your Facebook page and there are advertisements for chainsaws. You look for Yankee tickets and there is a list of local tree services. You try to book a vacation and there are pictures of trees on every page. George Orwell was right…Big Brother is watching! Google feels very Big Brotherish and I am bothered by it. It makes me feel uncomfortable…like I am being watched.
There was a popular song thirty years ago (thirty years ago!…I feel like my father quoting Frank Sinatra songs!) called “Every Breath You Take”:
Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I’ll be watching you
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I’ll be watching you
Every single day
Every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
I’ll be watching you
Every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
I’ll be watching you
Oh can’t you see
You belong to me
My poor heart aches
With every step you take
You belong to me
My poor heart aches
With every step you take
Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
I’ll be watching you
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
I’ll be watching you
(The Police- 1983)
Sting, the lead singer of the eighties rock band The Police penned these words as a love song over a broken relationship. But in some ways it can reflect God’s obsession with us. Obsession in a good way, not a sinister, jealous, envious type of way. Not in a way that makes us feel uncomfortable, violated or spied upon like Google makes me feel. But in a way that makes us feel comforted and cared for, a lover seeking His love. King David had these associated feelings when he penned Psalm 139:
1 You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
God desires us and yearns to have an ongoing, active, lively and loving relationship with Him. He sees us as we are…the good, bad and ugly parts of us. He knows us inside and out, our past, present and future. We cannot run from Him or hide from Him. He is watching us, not to condemn or judge us but to bring us into fellowship. We are known by Him and if we try to reject Him or keep Him at arms length He will pursue us. In Luke 15 Jesus gives three parables of God’s pursuit of us: The parable of the lost coin, the parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost son. I see in each of these a representation of the Trinity: The woman searching for the coin (God the Holy Spirit), the shepherd seeking the lost sheep (Jesus the Son) and the father waiting for his lost son to come to the realization that the father’s love is waiting for him (God the Father). God lives in the community of the trinity and He wants us to have a communal relationship with Him.
For some, the fact that God is watching us is threatening and intimidating. We would rather be invisible than exposed in such a total way. But we all want to be seen, to be known, to be touched in the deepest parts of our being. God created us that way and it is only natural. So to be seen by God, to be known by Him is a source of comfort and joy. (Oh no…I am already starting to quote Christmas carols…tidings of comfort and joy!)
Like it or not, God is watching us…Every step, every move. There is no where to flee from Him. But He is not intrusive and He will not force His way in. He will simply gently remind us that He is watching every step we take and every move we make.
Shalom!
What do you think? How does it make you feel?
Blessings,
Steven