Constant Surveillance
Do you ever feel as if your every move is being watched? As a kid, no matter how hard I tried to sneak around, my parents always seemed to have “eyes in the back of their heads.”
J. Edgar Hoover, the longtime Director of the FBI, is well known to have compiled confidential files on a great many Americans, much of which exceeded the jurisdiction of the FBI. For those in Hoover’s crosshairs, every move was surveilled and recorded, often to be used as blackmail.
I am told by people wiser than me that there were certain things my group of friends and I did in college that were not always the smartest things to do. I question that interpretation but let’s assume it is somewhat correct. Those days were long before cell phones, the growth of surveillance and tracking devices, doorbell cams, and social platforms, so, I say, show me the evidence. But, today, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” no longer stays in Vegas. It is now able to be viewed by millions of people, often as it is still in progress. Bought anything online lately? Every purchase is surveilled there as well.
Many people feel like every move they make is scrutinized. I once worked for a company where the boss seemed to know how many times that I left my desk or went to the bathroom. I believe that most people like to feel as if they are seen, but not to the point where they have no privacy. My wife and I enjoy spending time with each other but we also at certain times just need our own space, not having our every move monitored and inspected. None of us likes to be watched every minute of every day. We like some level of privacy. Usually when someone is under constant surveillance it is not for their benefit, but rather, for the purpose of catching them in some act; to be able to them say “Aha, I caught you!”
We have a God who watches over us every minute of every day, constant surveillance if you will, not to “catch us,” but instead, to help us. We are never out of His sight. He keeps a watchful eye on us to guide us, protect us, correct us, all done in the name of love.
Psalm 139 is a beautiful reminder of God’s perfect knowledge of every man, woman and child. It begins with these words – “You have searched me, LORD, and know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, you lay your hand upon me” (vv.1-5).
The psalm goes on to tell us that God created us and knitted us in our mother’s womb. He knew us and was with us even before we were born, and that today, wherever we are, He is. David, the writer of this psalm, pleads with God to never leave him. He ends the psalm with these words – “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
So, today, in a world of constant and often invasive surveillance, be thankful that we have a God, a Loving Father, who knows your every move, your every struggle, your every need, and who says to you – where you are, I am also, lean on me, listen to me, trust in Me!
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