There’s a verse in the Bible that says, “Thou God seest me” (Genesis 16:1313And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me? (Genesis 16:13)). When you think about the fact that God is watching everything you do, does that make you a little uneasy, or are you always okay with that? I’m sure each of us would have to admit that, because of what we were doing or what we were watching or saying, sometimes we would be uneasy. Here’s a story about 10-year-old Jimmy who found out that not only was God watching him, but his parents were too.
One day Jimmy was at the store with his mother, and he took something that didn’t belong to him. We all know that is stealing. Jimmy also knew that what he did was wrong, because he quickly hid it in his pocket until he got home.
When Jimmy and his mother got home, he went straight to his bedroom and shut the door. Then he took his stolen treasure out of his pocket. As he unwrapped it, he looked forward to a big bite of what he thought would be a candy bar. But when he took that big bite, he almost gagged! He didn’t know until then that what he had taken was a bar of cream cheese instead of a candy bar. It was a BIG disappointment!
Now he had the problem of figuring out how to get rid of it. He put it back in his pocket and then quietly left his bedroom and headed out to the backyard. From there he went out to the back pasture. He figured that would be far enough away that his parents couldn’t see him.
Back there in the pasture was a big pile of rocks. He took out a few rocks, stuck the bar of cream cheese into the hole and covered it up with the rocks. Now he could wipe his hands clean, go back to the house and be happy like nothing had happened.
But something was bothering him—his conscience. That little voice inside his heart was telling him he had done something wrong, and Jimmy wasn’t happy. He went back to his bedroom because he didn’t want his parents asking him any questions.
Have you ever taken something that didn’t belong to you? Or maybe you told a lie, answering quickly, “I didn’t do it.” What about using a swear word around your buddies to sound grown-up? Maybe you thought you got away with it, but God has written down all these sins after your name in His book. Jimmy thought he got away with hiding his sin under the rocks, but God had other plans for him.
Jimmy had wise Christian parents. They had seen him quietly sneaking out of the house and later going back to his room to be alone. They knew he must have done something wrong, and they loved him too much to let it go.
Soon there was a knock on Jimmy’s bedroom door. When he opened the door, his dad was standing there. In his hand was that bar of cream cheese with the end opened where Jimmy had taken that awful bite. Jimmy was found out; he couldn’t hide his sin anymore. And, of course, he had to be punished.
Every one of us has sinned, and you may be sure that God has seen every single sin. The good news is that He still loves us. He loves us so much that He punished His own dear Son for the sins of any person who will simply believe on Him, admitting to Him that he or she is a sinner and needs to be forgiven. He says in Jeremiah 31:3434And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:34), “I will forgive their iniquity [sin], and I will remember their sin no more.”
God is waiting to forgive you and to have you truly happy with a clear conscience when you hear the words, “Thou God seest me.” Will you come to Him right now for forgiveness and know that all your sins—past, present and future—are gone forever?
If you are a believer but have done something wrong that is making you unhappy, like Jimmy was, confess it to God and to whomever you have been hiding it from. The Bible tells us, “He that [covers] his sins shall not prosper: but whoso [confesses] and [forsakes] them shall have mercy” (Proverbs 28:1313He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. (Proverbs 28:13)) ... and a clear conscience.
ML-10/09/2011