God, Do You See Me?

I'm in a ministry to pray for others after Sunday service. I can't recall the number of times people start to cry when I've prayed this question often tucked in the back of their minds. "God, do you see me?" I'm remind of Nathaniel who was surprised when Jesus described him as man who had no guile or deceit. "How do you know about me?" Nathanael asked. Jesus replied, "I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you." (John 1:48, KJV).

What Jesus sees in us - that redemptive work of His Spirit - is far different from what we see in ourselves.

The Scriptures say His eyes search the entire earth for a heart set on Him (2 Chronicles 16:9). Only He sees the depths of the human heart which no one including ourselves can see. An all seeing God means we are not alone or abandoned. He has witnessed every injustice, cruelty, pain and heartache we have suffered (and what we have done to others). Just as Jesus knew Nathaniel's character, He's speaking to us right where we live if only our ears are attentive to His voice calling us.

Of course, there are some who wish God to be blind to what is done in the dark. Places they have gone and things they have committed in secret but nonetheless He knows. He even sees the vain and polluted imaginations played out in the deepest caverns our minds. Things we may not even be fully aware of but it blinds us just the same to seeing Him clearly and fully.

Beloved, seeing is not always believing. Seeing is only testifying to the evidence at hand. Human nature will still doubt what we can see is actually real. Like the disciple Thomas in John 20:25 many believers will demand God to show some sign or token of His existence before they can truly believe Him.

But the Lord blesses those who believe without seeing Him (verse 29). Jesus may have glanced at John the beloved because in the previous chapter he had raced to the tomb to find it empty. There was only the grave clothes remaining but John believed (Luke 20:8).

And that's the point.

It's in the absence of evidence that speaks more of Christ reality than what the human eye can see. God is real. God exists without a need for proof or demand of visual evidence. As Job 33:14 says "For God does speak--now one way, now another-- though no one perceives it." (NIV). In other words, a God who speaks is a God who is real.

God sees what we couldn't (or don't want Him to see) because our vision is limited to what we understand or perceive to be real. All of us suffer from tunnel vision narrowed by self-interest. So we must ask God to open our eyes to see Him.

Remember this promise when troubling times overshadow your vision of Christ. They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed. (Psalms 34:5 KJV). And when we look away from what troubles us - and look into the eyes of God - truly look deeply into His eyes - it says this in Song of Solomon 4:9 we capture His attention. Just a single glance in His direction will change us forever for God's heart is moved by mercy to help us.