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Way back, when I was just a child, I remember singing a particular song in church.

Way back, when I was just a child, I remember singing a particular song in church. Being a child, the tune appealed to me more perhaps than the words, but the words I understood fascinated me.

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Way back, when I was just a child, I remember singing a particular song in church.

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  1. Way back, when I was just a child, I remember singing a particular song in church. Being a child, the tune appealed to me more perhaps than the words, but the words I understood fascinated me. The song was in the old “Christian Hymns” songbook, and was also in “Sacred Selections,” but hasn’t been included in more recent hymnals- I think because it frightened some children. The song was/is entitled, “Watching You”.

  2. Lyrics to “Watching You” “All along on the road to the soul’s true abode, There’s an Eye watching you; Every step that you take this great Eye is awake, There’s an Eye watching you. “As you make life’s great flight, keep the pathway of right, There’s an Eye watching you; God will warn not to go in the path of the foe, There’s an Eye watching you. “Fix your mind on the goal, that sweet home of the soul, There’s an Eye watching you; Never turn from the way to the kingdom of day, There’s an Eye watching you. (Chorus) Watching you, watching you, Everyday mind the course you pursue; Watching you, watching you, There’s an all-seeing Eye watching you.”

  3. “Watching You” I can’t imagine why this song was dropped from more modern hymnals; Or why it would terrify some children; And/or “creep out” many adults; Can you??? However, there is a scriptural basis for the concept of the song. Notice with me: • Prov.5:21 “For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He watches all his paths.” • Prov.15:3 “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, watching the evil and the good.”

  4. “Watching You” I don’t doubt that J.M. Henson (writer of the song) intended to emphasize and underscore the omniscience(all-knowing) and omnipresence(everywhere present) characteristics of God. I do doubt that he actually intended to frighten little children with the notion of a huge “eye” glaring at them all the time! However….

  5. There are things we should realize about the Omniscienceand Omnipresenceof God. • The omniscienceof God refers to His ability to know any and all things; that His knowledge is perfect. Isa.40:28, “There is no searching of His understanding.” (KJV) Job 37:16, “The wonders of One perfect in knowledge.” Job 36:4-5, “One who is perfect in knowledge…mighty in strength of understanding.” Psalm 147:5, “His understanding is infinite.” 1John 3:20, “For God….knows all things.” Rom.11:33, “Oh the depth and riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!”

  6. There are things we should realize about the Omniscienceand Omnipresenceof God. • The omniscienceof God is only limited when and how He chooses to limit it. For examples, consider: Gen.11:5, “And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.” Is God near-sighted? Could He not “see” the tower of Babel from heaven? Of course He could, if He chose to do so! Gen.18:21, “I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me, and if not, I will know.” Again, could God not “see” Sodom and Gomorrah from heaven? Gen.22:12b, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” God can see “the end from the beginning…the things that are not yet done…” (Isa.46:9-10; 48:3-8) when He chooses to do so!

  7. There are things we should realize about the Omniscienceand Omnipresenceof God. • The omniscienceof God does not remove the “free moral agency” of man. Just because God knows in advance what will happen (i.e. what a man will or will not do), and even predicts it, does not necessarily mean that He causes it to happen. For example: Tell me which one a youngster would choose between ice cream and asparagus. Does your knowledge and prediction of his preference influence his choice? Consider Judas. Jesus knew and predicted what he would do in advance, John 6:64 > 13:11,18-21. Judas was certainly influenced by Satan, cf. Luke 22:3, but his thoughts, desires, intentions and actions were his own choice, John 12:4; Acts 1:25.

  8. There are things we should realize about the Omniscienceand Omnipresenceof God. • The omnipresenceof God means that He is everywhere present. This is closely related to the omniscience (all-knowing) and omnipotence (all-powerful) of God. For if God is everywhere present, He has full knowledge of all that transpires, and the ability to act with all His power everywhere, Jer.23:23-24; Psalm 139:1-16. However, the omnipresence of God does not deny that He also has specific location, Gen.11:5; 18:21. How do we get our minds around these concepts?

  9. There are things we should realize about the Omniscienceand Omnipresenceof God. • How do we get our minds around the concept of the omnipresenceof God, and at the same time accept that He has location? Not by “pantheism”- the notion that God is everything, and that God is in everything. Those possessing this notion, Rom.1:22-23 called “fools”. Acts 17:24-29also denies the concept of a pantheistic God. So how are we to understand the omnipresenceof God? Think of it this way: God the Father is manifested in heaven;God the Son was manifested on earth; and God the Spirit is manifested everywhere! “God is everywhere and in every place; His center is everywhere; His circumference nowhere.” (W. Evans, The Great Doctrines of the Bible; p.33)

  10. So, what should we glean from all of this? • Certainly we should understand that God’s omniscienceand omnipresenceallow Him to “see” all not only that we do, but all that we think and intend- whether we act upon it or not. • This definitely has a “fear-factor” associated with it because nothing escapes His awareness, John 4:15-19; Acts 5:1-11. He sees it all. We should think about this. • But these same concepts should bring great comfort also, Matt.6:25-34; 10:24-33!

  11. So, what should we glean from all of this? • Psalm 139is, as we’ve already noted, a primary text which tells us of God’s omniscience (vv.1-6), omnipresence (vv.7-12) and omnipotence (vv.13-16). But note carefully how David reacted to all of this in vv.17-24. The knowledge, presence, and power of God gave him great comfort! • The “all-seeing eye” of God “watching you” brings fear only if we are walking the wrong path and seeking to hide from Him. Such didn’t work for Adam & Eve or Jonah (cf. Gen.3:8ff; Jonah 1:3ff), and it won’t work for us either. • But if we truly love God, and endeavor to “walk in the light as He Himself is in the light,”then the ever-present nearness of God brings great comfort, peace, and security! He knows your heart, and sees your struggles!

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