In the sight of God, who gives life to everything…
Summary: Paul’s opening words to this passage provide an inspiring peek at the source of life.
Speaking of Paul’s sentences that run on for a full paragraph, here is another one! Let’s begin by examining his opening words because they are worth a few minutes of our time.
“In the sight of God, who gives life to everything…”
Paul can’t see Timothy when he is writing his letter, but he knows God can. He also knows God sees him as well. God sees us all!
That has to be a comforting thought for Paul as he writes to his “true son in the faith” (1 Timothy 1:2). God’s family might seem spread out over the far reaches of the entire world, but no matter how far apart they are, God is keeping track. No one is ever “lost” in God’s family.
Speaking of God, Paul points out that this is the God who “gives life to everything.” That is an interesting thing to think about as well.
I don’t know this for a fact, but I don’t believe that God can create us and the whole universe we live in and just “walk away” to leave it run on its own. That is not to say God couldn’t walk away if he wanted to, but rather that if he did, everything would go *Poof!* and simply stop existing. We need God! He “gives life to everything…”
This reality, that God is the source of life, changes how we see things.
Instead of imagining ourselves lost, alone, and forgotten, it helps to know that we are “in the sight of God.” Always.
Even when we are hurting, or someone is hurting us, God knows.
Do you think God likes to see us hurting each other? No, of course not. That is the real irony of life. When people want to know, “Why is there evil in the world?,” all we have to do is look in the mirror and see “evil” looking right back at us.
This is why God commands us to love (Matthew 22:37-40).
First, to love him, because he is love (1 John 4:8). Secondly, because if we are loving our neighbor, we are not going to be hurting them.
Application: Love (agapē).
Food for Thought: What happens when people imagine that God is not watching?
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I think when people imagine that God is not watching, they imagine that He does not care. In that mindset, they believe that there is no judgement for sin. That their sins are hidden and will remain hidden.
Psalm 10:3-4
3 For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul,
and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord.
4 In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him;
all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”
There is comfort in knowing that God does see us and cares for us. He engages with us through Christ, His Word, and His Holy Spirit.
Psalm 139:1-3
O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.
Psalm 34:15
The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.
Thank you, Chris!
Welcome back!
Good points about our awareness of God.
Good devotion again and good comments CH. I will simply add a couple more passages to the conversation. But when people don’t think God sees what they do, they tend to do evil. The unregenerate heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure (Jeremiah 17: 9). Without understanding that God keeps us accountable, we can go down a bad direct fast.
Psalm 94: 1 – 7: The Lord is a God who avenges.
O God who avenges, shine forth.
2Rise up, Judge of the earth;
pay back to the proud what they deserve.
3How long, Lord, will the wicked,
how long will the wicked be jubilant?
4They pour out arrogant words;
all the evildoers are full of boasting.
5They crush your people, Lord;
they oppress your inheritance.
6They slay the widow and the foreigner;
they murder the fatherless.
7They say, “The Lord does not see;
the God of Jacob takes no notice.”
Ezekiel 8: 12: He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, ‘The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land.’ ”
Hebrews 4: 13: Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Thank you, Rich!
Excellent verses!