#290 - Mark Hitchcock // The Eyes of the Lord

Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up. Welcome back to the Daily Blade. I'm Dr. Mark Hitchcock. I'm the pastor of Faith Bible Church in Edmond, Oklahoma, and I'm filling in this week for Kyle and Joby. One of my favorite verses in the Bible, ever since I heard it years ago as a young boy, is 2 Chronicles 16, verse 9. This is a verse I'm sure many of you probably heard or maybe memorized. It says, for the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth, that he may strongly support those whose heart is completely his. God's eyes move to and fro throughout the earth, that he can strongly support those whose heart is completely his. Now, this verse comes in a context of a king of Judah named Asa, King Asa. 2 Chronicles chapters 14 to 16, I encourage you to read those chapters this week. They record the 41-year reign of Asa, the king of Judah. And Asa's story revolves around two crises, two great crises, kind of one at the beginning of his reign and one near the end. In the first instance, Asa relied on the Lord for strength, and he enjoyed great success and blessing and victory. So he relied on God and trusted in God and God gave him success and victory But the second crisis near the end of his life he relied on the king of Syria for help and he experienced a failure and frustration These two crises have often been called Asa's faith and Asa's folly. But this passage here tells us that near the end of his life, God makes this tremendous promise that God's eyes are searching throughout the earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is completely his. So the eyes of the Lord here speaks of God's omniscience, that God knows what's happening, that he's the God who sees. You know, the Bible will tell us that God not only sees to us, but he sees through us. God's omniscient, he sees everything. Genesis 16, 13 says, you're a God who sees. Zechariah 4, 10 says, the eyes of the Lord range to and fro throughout the earth. Proverbs 15, 3 says, the eyes of the Lord are in every place, watching the evil and the good. So that's the eyes of the Lord. But then it says the eyes of the Lord are looking for those he can strongly support. That speaks of his omnipotence. So the eyes of the Lord is his omniscience. He sees and knows everything. But the strong support of God is his omnipotence. The God sees and God supports. So God not only is aware of our obstacles and our opportunities, but he can deliver us from trouble and favor us in opportunities. And this passage tells us that God is eagerly looking for those among his people that he can support with great strength because they rely on him and not themselves or others If you look at the context of these verses of the verses right up before verse nine it says that he relied on the king of Aram and did not rely on the Lord. Down in verse eight, he says, because you relied on the Lord. So the key thought here before we get to verse nine is that Asa either relied on or didn't rely on the Lord. And so I think that's the meaning if God strongly supports those whose heart is completely his, means those who rely on him. As the eyes of God search the earth, they're looking for those to strongly support. And what catches God's eye is if we rely on him, we trust in him and depend on him. I like what one writer says. He says this, God's not looking for people to work for him as much as he's looking for people who will let him work for them. The gospel is not a help wanted ad. Neither is the call to Christian service. On the contrary, the gospel commands us to give up and hang out a help wanted sign. God is working for us around the clock. He doesn't take days off. He doesn't sleep. In fact, he is so eager to work for us. He goes around looking for more work to do for people who will trust him. That's a great statement. God is looking for those who will exchange their weakness for his strength, for those who will allow him to turn their messes into momentum. So let me ask you, what area of your life do you need to rely on the Lord and receive his support? God wants to strongly support your marriage. Will you rely on him God wants to strongly support your family your children your grandchildren Will you rely on him God wants to strongly support your business and your work your labor Will you rely on him? God wants to strongly support your church. Will you and your pastors and your leaders there rely upon him? God is eager to help you. I love Deuteronomy 33, 26. There is none like the God of Israel who rides the heavens to your help. There's a story I heard about a man that worked in a factory. He was new and kind of inexperienced, and he managed to get his machine that he was working on all messed up and tangled up. He was afraid to tell the foreman, and so he tried to unravel it himself and do all this, and it only just got worse. So in desperation, he finally goes and gets the foreman, and he tells him, he said, I did my best. But the foreman looked at him and said, your best is to get me. Your best is to get me. And when you get him, when we get the Lord, we have his strong support. And he's eagerly waiting. His eyes are searching. The eyes of the Lord are searching and scouring the earth for men who rely upon him and trust in him so that he can strongly support us. May our trust in him catch his searching eye this week. Thank you for listening to today's episode. 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