The Eyes of the Lord

Do you know who has the most beautiful eyes in the whole world?  Jesus Christ, our Lord and King!  He has His Father's eyes, and His Father is the God of the Universe.

His eyes are bursting with light, blazing like fire, burning with love and compassion. With holiness they pierce right through you. 

The Living One Who Sees me
The handmaiden of Sarah, the wife of Abraham, ran away from home.  Although she was pregnant and vulnerable, she couldn't take any more mistreatment from Sarah.  But God saw her fleeing into the countryside. "Now the angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur." (Gen 16:7)

Isn't it amazing how she was not even a Hebrew, and we have no record of her yet having a relationship with God!  But He loved her and cared for her.  He told her to name the boy in her womb Ishmael. Although he was not the son of promise, with whom God would make a covenant, He had plans for this child.  He was the child of Abraham, the friend of God, and it was for Abraham's sake that God did this. Abraham was called to be the father of many nations, and his son Ishmael would become the father of the Arab world.

God told her to go back to Abraham's tent and submit to Sarah.  So she gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered. (Gen 16:13-14, NIV). Beer Lahai Roi  means “Well of the Living One Who sees me.”

God still loves and cares for the Muslim people, and wants to save them through His Son, Jesus Christ.  Many of them are having face to face encounters with the Lord Jesus today, and discovering that He is still the Living One Who sees them.  You can find more about this in the videos at the end of my post called "Ongoing Earthly Ministry of Jesus."  There is also a site called "More Than Dreams" that has some remarkable testimonies of Muslims seeing Jesus.

Finding Favor in His Eyes

In the days before the flood, the wickedness on the earth was great.  "Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Gen 6:5) None of this was hidden from God, for He sees all, the good and the evil. And because of it, He planned to destroy the earth and all living creatures.

Those were the days of the Nephilim, the heroes of old, men of renown.  These were not kind and gentle giants, but violent and evil ones.  You can read more about this in my post called "The Evil Nephilim Giants" to find out where they came from, and the implications of that for today.

But in the midst of that evil world, there was one man who kept himself and his family pure.  "Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD." (Gen 6:8)  God looked at Noah's life and was pleased to see love and peace. So he and his family were the only ones who were saved from the deluge that destroyed the world. This true story has been confirmed by Ron Wyatt's archeological discovery of the ark in the mountains of Ararat (see here).

We live in a day and age when the world is even more wicked than it was in Noah's day.  I want to remain pure and find favor in God's eyes.  Don't you?

The LORD's Eyes Range Throughout the Earth
The Lord is searching for a certain kind of person on the earth today, whom He can bless.  "For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will surely have wars." (2Ch 16:9; cf., Zec 4:10) The kind of person who is blessable is the one whose heart is fully committed to the Lord.

King Asa made a terrible mistake.  In the passage cited above (2 Chronicles 16) you can read how this king was under attack.  Instead of fully committing himself and his nation to the Lord's care, he made an alliance with a foreign king who did not serve the one, true God.  He actually purchased their help with the gold and silver from the temple and his own palace.

He could have trusted the Lord to strengthen him like He did for Moses, Joshua, Caleb, and David, enabling them to conquer kingdoms and overcome giants.  But instead he put his trust in the arm of the flesh. As a result, a seer prophesied to him that he would always be at war after that.  Instead of strengthening his position by making this unholy alliance, he actually weakened it, and made certain that the Lord would not be with him in battle.

I have fully committed myself to the Lord. There's no other way to serve Him.  Don't hold anything back from Him, or rely on any man to save you. Commit yourself fully to the Lord.

Do what is right in the eyes of the LORD
It's necessary to always do what is right in the eyes of the LORD. (Deu 21:9)  That means you must never compromise with darkness or become partners with the world.

For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the LORD, And He watches all his paths. (Pro 5:21)

The eyes of the LORD are in every place, Watching the evil and the good. (Pro 15:3)

Live in the light and the Lord will be pleased with you.

The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous
I'm always encouraged when I read the Psalm that says, "The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous And His ears are open to their cry." (Psa 34:15) 

Peter quotes this psalm in his epistle saying, "FOR THE EYES OF THE LORD ARE TOWARD THE RIGHTEOUS, AND HIS EARS ATTEND TO THEIR PRAYER, BUT THE FACE OF THE LORD IS AGAINST THOSE WHO DO EVIL." (1Pe 3:12)

It's great to know He sees me and hears my cry. On the other hand, if I do evil, His face will be against me.   He is no respecter of persons.

No Creature is Hidden from His sight
You can't hide anything from the Lord.  I don't care if you do your dirty deeds at night when it's dark.  It doesn't matter if you go up to the International Space Station or take a submarine to the depths of the sea, and go behind a closed door, He sees you.  You can hide it from others, but you can't keep it from the eyes of the Lord.  And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. (Heb 4:13)


When He Sees Sin
One thing the Lord will not tolerate or wink at is sin.  When He sees it, He's not pleased with it at all.  This happened when his disciples tried to stop people from bringing the children to Him to bless them.  "When Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, "Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. (Mar 10:14)

And the time He saw them doing business in the temple, He let them know what He thought about it. "The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, 'Take these things away; stop making My Father's house a place of business.'"  (Joh 2:13-16)

Eyes of Compassion
The Lord not only has eyes of holiness, but eyes of love and compassion.  When He sees people in trouble, He has compassion.  That's what He did for Jacob's wife Leah.  "Now the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren." (Gen 29:31). 

He did the same thing for the Israelite nation under Egyptian bondage: 'Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression; (Deu 26:7)

This is what Jesus did for the widow of Nain, whose only son had died.  The funeral procession was passing by, and there was the widow, weeping for her lost son.  "When the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her, and said to her, 'Do not weep.'" (Luk 7:13)  Then Jesus raised the man from the dead and gave him back to his mother.

The same was true when Jesus saw the hunch-back lady. "And there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, 'Woman, you are freed from your sickness.' And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God." (Luk 13:11-13)


There was also a lame man, who had been disabled for 38 years.  "When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, 'Do you wish to get well?'" (Joh 5:6).  He saw that man and had compassion on him.  But He didn't assume the man wanted to be healed.  Jesus asked him if he wanted to get well, and when the man said he did, Jesus healed him.

It's so wonderful to read these passages about Jesus' eyes of compassion. But let's not forget what Jesus said to the man afterward.  "Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, 'Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.'"  (Joh 5:13-14).  This an important warning to remember.  Just because He has eyes of compassion on the weak and suffering, if we want to stay well and avoid having something worse happen to us, we must not sin anymore.  That means we need to do what is right in God's eyes, obey the Lord's commands, and live a holy life by the power of the Holy Spirit.

However, if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father.  We need to wholeheartedly repent of our sin, confess it to the Lord and He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1Jo 1:9)

If you are in a terrible plight right now, you need to know that the Lord sees you, too.  He has compassion for you.  And if you cry out to Him for mercy, He will hear you.  There's no problem too small, no sin too big. There is nothing He can't do! 


He Sees You Before You Come to Him
Lastly, the Lord sees you even before you come to Him.  This was the case with Nathaniel.  You will recall that the Scripture says, "Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, 'Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!'" (Joh 1:47).

In the Hebrew culture, there was an expression about each man sitting under his own fig tree.  It meant that one was spending time meditating on the Scriptures, enjoying the peace, prosperity, and protection that God gives to those who meditate on His Word day and night.  Nathaniel was such a man in whom there was no guile.  He loved the Scriptures, and the Lord saw him in the Spirit before He ever saw him physically. 

If you love God and His Word, I can assure you that He sees you. Even if you have not yet come to know Him, you may be reading the Bible, praying, going to church services.  The Lord sees you and knows your heart.  But you need to know Him in order to be saved.  Your good works, church attendance, and Bible reading can't save you.

It's only through repentance and a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ that you can be saved.

After I shared this message with my family, my fourteen-year-old daughter wrote a poem about the eyes of the Lord, which really captures the heart of this message. I hope you will take a moment to read it at "The Eyes of the Lord."

Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.


Author's note:  You can access my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

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Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.