The God who sees

Thou hast seen it. Ps. 10:14

The wicked pretend as if God doesn't hear their blasphemies or see their sins. They act as if there is no God, and carry on in the confidence that they will get away with injustice and evil. This was true in the Psalmist's day and it is true in our day. Generation after generation produces wicked men and women who think they can get away with it, that their sins will never find them out.

But the reality is that God sees their every deed. In fact, he knows their secret thoughts. And he is King forever (ver. 16), who not only hears and sees the wicked, but "hast heard the desire of the humble . . . and wilt cause thine ear to hear; to judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress" (ver. 17-18).

The Psalmist began on a note of desperation and consternation: "Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble? The wicked in his pride persecute the poor" (1-2). But he does not stay there and as he comes to the end of the Psalm he has switched from consternation before God to exultation in God. This is a lesson to all of us. But we will not get there if we are not willing to see through present appearances to heavenly realities. The reality is that, no matter what the wicked think, God is King. And he is sovereign and just.

Let us therefore remember these two things so that we too don't get bogged down in despair through a fixation on what is broken and unjust: God hears and sees the wicked and he sees and hears the righteous. He will requite the wicked and give justice to the righteous. No matter how awful things get, there is coming a day of judgment when God will put all things right. As Solomon put it, "Be not envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them. . . Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked; for there shall be no reward to the evil man; the candle of the wicked shall be put out" (Prov. 24:1, 19-20).