The Eye of God: A Lesson on Relationship with God

"Mommy, can I be done now?"

I look toward the little voice at my side, and see Jubilee asking to be finished with dinner. I glance at her plate and observe a variety of veggies, strategically pushed and smushed so they have the appearance of having been eaten.

Without saying a word, I look at Jubilee, look at the veggies, look back at Jubilee, raise one eyebrow and resumed eating.

Jubilee sighs dramatically, flops into her chair and begins to poke at her veggies once again.

This nightly ritual had little relevance to me until one day when I was listening to a sermon in the car on my way to work. Reverend Lee Stoneking was referencing Psalm 32:8. In this verse God is speaking and He says,

"I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye."

It is easy to understand how God is able to instruct and teach us. We have the Bible, and we have preachers and teachers that God places in our lives to speak His word and help us to get through our daily lives. When we decide to serve God, we know that the rest of our days will be filled with wonderful instruction because we strive everyday to be better than the day before and we can not grow without it.If we ever hope to be like Jesus, we need daily instruction.

Now the second half of this scripture is the part that is hard to fathom. 

God will guide us with His eye.

Not his spoken work, not His written word, but His glance. 

Just a look.

When I begin to think about how amazing it would be to know God enough and to be in tune enough to be guided by the eye of God, I am completely overcome.

How could I ever know the direction that God is looking or wants me to go?

I felt the answer impressed upon my heart as I pondered this concept.

Everyday of a Christian's life is a journey to become more like Jesus. 

In order to be like Jesus, we have to know Him. 

In order to learn about Him, we have to talk to Him and read about Him. 

For example, the more time you spend with someone, the more you get to know them. 

When you begin to get to know someone you are able to recognize their voice when they call you on the phone without them saying their name. When you know someone very well, you can then easily identify their likes and dislikes, their quirks and their habits. You know their dreams and their ambitions. People who are married for hundreds of years even begin to look like each other! By this time, they can read each others thoughts and when one dies, the other is sure to go. These people seem to be intertwined on a sub conscious level.

This is the depth of relationship that we should seek with God and the Bible says it is not impossible! It sounded unattainable until God reminded me about the veggie incident.

When Jubilee asked me if she could be done, No words were spoken yet Jubilee went away knowing what she had to do in order to be done. 

So how did Jubilee come to understand "the look'?

I am sure that most of it came from Jubilee knowing me well and by having an initial understanding that in our home, veggies need to be eaten before you can leave the table. Because she knew that already, and because we had told her that before on numerous occasions, and she knew what her "job" was, as soon as I looked at the veggies, it just confirmed to her what she already knew and understood. If I had looked over at Jeeves and back to Jubilee, she would have been confused and she probably would have thought I was giving her permission to feed the veggies to the dog.

So how can we find relevance with this example? When it comes to  God's "look" we know that God is a spirit, so we can't physically see Him eyeballing us. So how do we discern where he is looking?

This is only going to come from an established relationship with God. One where instruction has previously been given and one in where we know what God wants us to do and be. 

We can not see the wind blowing but we see the trees swaying. In this same way, we can look around and see where the move of God is and where we should be.

It is important for us to have an understanding of the direction of God.

In my personal walk, I feel that I am starting to be able to identify God's voice. 

If this were a relationship with another human, it would only be in the beginning stages! Yet I have  known God my entire life! When the Bible talks about sheep, it says that even the sheep know their Master's voice.  So what is the mystery is about hearing the voice of God? And why am I just OK with being able to recognize God's voice now and again?

I am not near as close to God as I would like to be, and for that reason, knowing that there will be a time in my relationship with God that I will know His so well that He will lead me with His eye, this gives me great hope and excitement. 

There is so much more that God wants to reveal to us as we get to know Him better. He has the most amazing things planned for us but we have to keep moving forward. 

I want every step I take to be in the will of God. I know that He alone hold the plan for my life and that without His guidance, I would never be able to find that plan on my own. My own will gets in the way of what God has for me and I want to be in the will of God at all times because it is only in the will of the God that you have His blessings on your life and His protection and His pleasure. I want the eye of God to look my way and be pleased with what He sees.