“For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.” (2 Chronicles 16:9 KJV)
Do you ever notice that people act differently when they know their conversation is being recorded or they are on camera? It is standard practice at companies public, private, and government to inform their new hires that there is to be no expectation of privacy. All web traffic is filtered and logged. All email can be frozen at any time and turned over for litigation to the first judge to ask for it. Cameras are not just on most major intersections to identify traffic snarls, but now come on most every smart phone that is right in your pocket or purse. Even more curious is that this same smart phone can now place a date, time, and gps stamp on every picture taken and then upload it to your social network where there are a dozen “friends” waiting to see it. Now, it is not incredible to believe the eyes of God see throughout the whole Earth, but also the eyes of Man. This creates an interesting delima. When someone knows their actions are being recorded, videoed, or some sort of log is being kept; they act differently. More specifically, they “act”. It is like getting your picture taken and the photographer asks you to act natural. If I am acting, then it is not natural. Unless, I am a natural actor. Remembering for a moment that the Greek for hypocrite is actor, we face a decision. If we know our activities are being kept track of, and we know that record is going to be reviewed at some point by some one (or a group of people); then we learn how to act. For some, it makes them more sensible. For others it makes them find the most watched camera so they can do the craziest things. In either case, we eventually learn how to act to manage an outcome.
The difficulty comes when you realize that Man looks on the outside and God looks on the inside (see 1 Samuel 16:7). Man wants you to act a certain way hoping that it will eventually penetrate deeper in changing underlying attitudes. God looks at the heart to see the root or source of what is genuine and then draws outward. This is obvious in some people’s struggle in accepting the gospel. They must have an intellectual understanding before they can open a spot in their heart. It leaves us struggling to attempt to appease Man while letting God remake us from the inside out. As hard as it may seem, it really proves to be better to let go of the attempt at appeasing Man knowing that God will remake us and show us a much better way to demonstrate real answers. Surrender becomes the solution to what managed actions can never do. Surrender gives us a freedom to want to do something because of the good we now see in it, rather than the peer pressured means of obligatory musts. We may or may not ever obtain a good standing with Men, but we always can offer a witness to Men of what God has done (and is doing). Even if that man or woman is ourselves.
“For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” (1 Peter 3:12 KJV)