April 26, 2024

Ayin Adonai

July 4, 2014 by

SeekingHimLogo

Behold, the Lord’s eye <Ayin Adonai> is upon those who fear Him,
who wait for Him and hope in His mercy and loving-kindness.
Our inner selves wait [earnestly] for the Lord; He is our Help and our Shield.
For in Him does our heart rejoice, because we have trusted in His holy name.
Let Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, be upon us,
in proportion to our waiting and hoping for You.

Psalms 33:18-22

Such a comforting thought—that our Father has His ‘eye on us!’  Of course, our heavenly Father does not have actual, physical eyes!  But, if He did, they would be awesome, magnificent, never-missing-anything eyes, wouldn’t you say?  And, figuratively, that IS the truth!  Almighty God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and all that is upon this earth AND us, He DOES see us—everything around us, everything about us, everything we do, everywhere we go.

When human characteristics or attributes are placed on God it is called biblical anthropomorphism.  Anthropomorphism basically means ‘the form of man.’  A synonym for anthropomorphism is ‘personification’.  There are many examples throughout the Scriptures of both God referring to Himself and the writers of the Bible referring to God in “anthropomorphic” terms.  One purpose to do so would be to describe God in terms more understandable to humans.  Since God is invisible and has no form, we would not have a framework on which to understand Him.  (Here is a great article which explains this in detail.)

Doing a simple search for the phrase, ‘eyes of the Lord,’ came up with over 100 Scriptures on Biblegateway.com.  Here is a link  if you would like to go and read them all yourself!!!  Many refer to a person doing either what is right and good, or doing evil.  Here are a few passages which I particularly love (hope you do, too)!

But Noah found grace (favor) in the eyes of the Lord.
Genesis 6:8 AMP

And Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as David his father had done.
1 Kings 15:11

For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth
that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.
2 Chronicles 16:9 NASB

For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, And He watches all his paths.
Proverbs 5:21

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.
1 Peter 3:12

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May the end of Psalm 33 be the prayer of our hearts!

Our inner selves wait [earnestly] for the Lord; He is our Help and our Shield.
For in Him does our heart rejoice, because we have trusted in His holy name.
Let Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, be upon us,
in proportion to our waiting and hoping for You.

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Godly Fear

June 30, 2014 by

SeekingHimLogo

Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him,
upon them that hope in His mercy;
Psalm 33:18

Our hope in God leads to a manifestation of godly fear in us.  With His offer of hope, God only asks us to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  When we make a decision to choose Christ, godly fear then begins to manifest in us as we mature in Christ.

Godly fear is the outward evidence of a Christian’s hope in God’s mercy.  When we truly place all of our hope in God, it becomes a fervent emotion filled with godly fear.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
all those who practice it have a good understanding.
His praise endures forever.
Psalm 111:10

King David said that God’s watchful eye is on you even when you can’t see the path He has you on or the direction He wants you to take. This thought is repeated in 2 Chronicles 16:9:

For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth,
to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.

God’s eyes are constantly looking to protect, sustain, and bring us through the difficulties we encounter every day. Our heavenly Father desires to bless our lives, so He watches for that moment when we are particularly needy.

Generally, fear and hope are thought to be in conflict with each other; but in the Presence and worship of God they are found side by side in perfect and beautiful harmony. And this is because in God Himself all apparent contradictions are reconciled. Righteousness and peace, judgment and mercy, holiness and love, infinite power and infinite gentleness, a majesty that is exalted above all heaven, and a condescension that bows very low, meet and kiss each other.

There is indeed a fear that has torment, but it is cast out entirely by perfect love. But there is a fear that is found in the very heavens. Let us in our waiting ever seek “to fear the glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD” (Deuteronomy 28:58).

The deeper we bow before His holiness in holy fear and adoring awe—in deep reverence and humble self-abasement, even as the angels veil their faces before the throne—the more His Holiness will rest upon us, and the soul will be filled to have God reveal Himself.

The deeper we enter into the truth “that no flesh glory in His presence” (1st Corinthians 1:29) will it be given us to see His glory. “The eye of the Lord is on them that fear Him, on them that hope in His mercy” (Psalm 33:18).

The true fear of God will be so far from keeping us back from hope!  Rather it will stimulate and strengthen it.  The lower we bow, the deeper we feel we have nothing to hope in but His mercy.  The lower we bow, the nearer God will come and make our hearts bold to trust Him.

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LORD, we trust in You today, even when we cannot discern Your Presence to direct our path. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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