THE EYES OF THE LORD PART 3 - "ON THE RIGHTEOUS"

“ Behold, the Eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him (Psalm 33: 18 )…..”the Eyes of the LORD are toward the Righteous and His Ears are open to their cry (Psalm 34:15).

(Photo - NASA)

You have heard it said that “eyes are windows to the soul”. This is absolutely true. I have street evangelized in all kinds of settings for many years, and come face to face with souls that are dark and seemingly lost to perdition.  Those are HUMAN eyes. These are NOT The Eyes of the LORD! The all-powerful; all-seeing; all-knowing and all-wise Eyes of our Great God in Heaven  are good. They are alive. They were alive in Eternity past and can see the end from the beginning.

So, what about this seeming difference between Psalm 33:18 and Psalm 34:15 (AS SEEN ABOVE)? What does He mean by both “The Eye of the Lord” and the “The Eyes of the Lord”? Is the Lord using a different “eyes” for different functions? Well, no – God does not compartmentalize. 

Look at it this way: in Psalm 33:18 we see that “the Eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him”. This is general statement.  God Himself said in Proverbs 1:7 that the “fear of the Lord is the beginning of Knowledge” and in Proverbs 2: 28-29, He says “Then they will call on me, and I will not answer. They will seek me diligently and I will not answer because they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord”. The word for knowledge, which HaShem uses is also a Hebrew root word for "Truth"! Therefore, if you KNOW Truth, you will "fear" Him - which is to have the proper reverence, awe and understanding of Who God really is. Those who have no knowledge of the Holy, do NOT fear, reverence, worship, adore or even have the slightest clue Who He is....and increasingly, this goes for the majority of evangelicals (mostly young) and mainline churches.

At one point in time, America was known as the most God-fearing nation in the world.  Because of that, the late 19th and the first six decades of the 20th centuries were America’s time.  The favor of God was upon this country.  Everything most industrialists touched almost seemed  to gold.

A person could have come from the worst background, from any country in the world and with the Grace of God and hard work, build something completely out of nothing. To a certain extent, this can still be done - with perseverance. But corrupt politicians and a godless educational/cultural/judicial system has turned the mind of the hopeful into complete hopelessness. Now, those who have transformed this unique God-fearing country which God does not recognize anymore, will pay on Judgment day when the books are open before the Great White Throne, but as long as there is life, there is hope.
This is the Corporate "Eye of the Lord" - the Eye which sees entire tribes, tongues and nations - like America. You and I should be more interested in the "Eyes of the Lord" first, because once we find favor in THOSE Eyes, then we can work on being a society and a people favorable unto Him!

Scripture says "the Eyes of the LORD are toward the Righteous and His Ears are open to their cry (Psalm 34:15). 1 Peter 3:12 quotes this exact passage of this psalm in order to emphasize the Lord's point. The full quote used by Peter is ”For the Eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayer. But the Face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”(1 Peter 3:12). Both uses of this passage represent a conditional offer to man.  The majority of humanity alive today has chosen the latter, even if they don't think they are evil, or do evil. If they are not following Christ as Lord and Savior, they are already completely separated from God. They will enjoy the same "rain which falls on the just and the unjust" but that is only for this brief life. Those who walk in unrighteousness by following false and fraudulent religions and cults other than Biblical Christianity should get a notion what the full attention and "Face of the Lord" really means. This is no picnic!

What about you and I who are completely sold-out and committed disciples of Christ? 

Well, we have two wonderful promises here:
First, "the Eyes of the LORD are toward the Righteous": that alone tell us that He is for us! Just as God's Face is AGAINST those who practice iniquity, His entire gaze is TOWARD us - His elect, saved and set apart for eternity. We are not Righteous because of anything we have done, but are thus because we accepted the same offer that He made to even those who will face His wrath. The word "toward" means "on the basis of"....Christ the Advocate, being our Lord and Savior, that is the reason for His Loving Eyes on us!

Secondly, "His Ears are open" to our cry" (or prayer) is a definite promise that because we have His personal attention (EYES - as in both EYES), He listens. The fervent and effective prayer of a righteous man avails much (James 5:16). But it is more than that. When Scripture (and therefore God) promises that His "Ears are  open", the literal terminology used by the Holy Spirit in Scripture, in essence, means Abba Father is continually and perpetually bent towards giving us an audience when we approach Him in the proper manner of Prayer. He always answers our prayer. Even if we do not like the answer, He answers!

In the final analysis, this is what we should strive for, during our short time on this wonderful creation called Earth.  We should strive for the Favor of His Divine Gaze upon us, all our families and our goings and comings.  We cannot earn a single measure of it, and once we have it (through Mark 1:15 - repent and believe the Gospel and be saved), we can sure mess it up. But if your heart and mine and set on Above and are completely loyal, devoted and "all-in" for Him, when His Eyes go across the whole earth in search of those who are so, they will land on us and His entire sensory perception will be directed to us, lovingly. Do you know any better promise? Are you His? Do you know Him? If not...do not waste another moment.

WOMEN OF DYNASTY, DYNAMIC PRAYER & DESTINY

SPECIAL MOTHER'S DAY SERIES: 

TODAY: HANNAH!

In honor of some of the more impactful mothers of the Bible, let’s take a look at four mothers briefly: RAHAB, RUTH, HANNAH and of course – MARY!

Rahab and Ruth were women of Dynasty.

Hannah was a woman of Dynamic Prayer.

Mary – the mother of Jesus – a woman of Destiny!
Three of these Four Women are directly in the Line of Jesus - the King of the Universe, LORD and Savior of Mankind!

HANNAH, a woman of Dynamic Prayer:

We have all known and/or heard stories of mothers who prayed for their children all their lives. Some pray for their salvation or their coming back to the Lord. Many pray for life and career circumstances, or a family issue. No matter what, there is nothing like the prayers of a mother!

Honore de Balzac said “the heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness”…and so a mom prays.

 George Elliot said “A mother's yearning feels the presence of the cherished child even in the degraded man”….there is nothing like a mother praying for a lost son or daughter, who has been caught up in the vortex of worldly sin.

I love this Irish proverb “A man loves his sweetheart the most; his wife the best, but his mother the longest”!

Then there is this Jewish proverb “God could not be everywhere and therefore He made mothers”.

All of these underscore the character of a mother, whose heart is always for her children. So when Godly Hannah could not have a child, and most likely, was beginning to feel less than a woman, she did the only thing we know how to do in a crisis – PRAY!

The setting is the Shiloh where the Lord’s Presence had been. Many came from the tribes of Israel up to Shiloh to worship the Holy One of Israel as will be required of the Nations during the 1000 years reign of Jesus Christ. Just as an aside – even with Jesus sitting on His Throne in the Temple in Jerusalem, there will be people still being born etc. who will rebel and REFUSE to go up to Jerusalem and worship Him, annually! No need to tell you what will happen after that!

At this time, God’s priests were the sons of Eli – Hophni and Phinehas and He had in mind a Godly man to be His next priest! The reason for this is the following: Hophni and Phinehas made some American Televangelists look like Snow White! Their aging father Eli, a major minister of the Lord, never disciplined his sons, and contrary to the Law, participated in their skimming MORE than their portion of the priestly food! Not just the corruption and bribery, but old Hophni and Phinehas were sleeping with every woman they could…violating the Holiness of God – RIGHT INSIDE THE TEMPLE.

HANNAH’S PRAYER:

Here is her prayer which was so fervent that the insufferable Eli, who ignored his sons’ transgressions, accused Hannah of being drunk! 

The Word of the Lord: "She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said, “O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.” (1 Samuel 1:10-11 ESV)


Let’s take a closer look at the methodology of her prayer because it contains lessons for not just moms, but anyone whose heart seeks after God and feels a tremendous burden to intercede or simply beg for HELP! We look at it seriatim, in bullet form order:

-          Hannah was in deep, gut wrenching sorrow at being childless and all that went with it.

-          Hannah began praying, with tears in complete brokenness before the Throne.

-          Hannah sought a quid pro quo, almost!

-          Hannah then made promise in her supplication.

-          Hannah fulfilled her promise after Samuel the future Prophet was born, when God answered her prayer!

There had to be complete brokenness before the Lord for Him to open up Heaven and release a baby to be born to Hannah. You see this all through her prayer. However, while her belief and faith that God could do what she asked, what was even MORE impressive was her selfless sacrifice and devotion to God!

God not only made her complete as a woman of God and a mother, but He was glorified because of His Grace to this humble woman. In a sense, Hannah is similar to the next Great Mother in the Bible, whom history will talk about until the end of time! Like Mary, Hannah gave her son to the Service of the Lord. Unlike Mary though, Hannah’s son was not God Who became man!

TOMORROW: MARY - THE GREATEST MOTHER OF THEM ALL!