**The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. ** Psalm 34:15,16
When we read the Bible we can understand any text in several ways.
Literally, – Jesus walked in Judea,
Morally- Thou shalt not kill
Allegorically- the seed and the sower parable
Spiritually- Walk in the light as He is in the light.
Some passages are all of these, some are only a few of these.
When the Scriptures tell us that the Lord has eyes, and ears, a face, and that He can smell, are we talking literally, or spiritually or allegorically?
Genesis chapter 1 tells us that God made man in HIS own image. You and I have a face to identify us, eyes to see, ears that hear, a tongue that tastes, a nose that smells fragrant smells…hands that hurt or heal…legs that walk…arms that embrace…a heart that yearns, grieves and rejoices. We mirror these same traits found in the person of God in the following passages.
Leviticus 20;6
And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.
2 Chronicles 16;9
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.
Psalm 11;4
The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.
Proverbs 5;21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings.
Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.
Zechariah 4:10 …they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth.
1 Peter 3;12
For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
Just like us, the Lord uses his features for good or for judgment. For love or for chastisement. For blessing or for cursing.
Just like we want to be on the good side of the law, we also desire to be on the good side of the Lord. We do not want the law or the Lord to have to use their power to make our lives more painful.
It is good to live in God’s favor. To live under his grace and mercy. To have Him look lovingly towards us. To have Him looking for ways to make our lives better. To see us and to hear us and to know our needs. It is good that He has eyes and ears and a face. They make Him more relatable.
I believe we can take these verses literally. God has real features, like us. We can also look at it in a more spiritual light. God sees with more than His eyes, He hears with more than His ears, He looks at us straight on or He turns away according to how we are living. Because everything with the Lord is deeper and richer than what we see on the surface. And, of course, in eternity, everything there is better than what we have here.
Those that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour, are righteous in Christ. The Lord sees us as cleansed, purified, separate from those who do not believe in Him. He looks favorably on us. He delights to hear from us. He never looks away from us. We are His children.
Let’s not use the goodness of God to disappoint Him. Everything we have ever done or are doing or that we will do in the future, is forgiven. All of it. Yet, we know that the Lord chastises His children for what we do not deal with on our own. Grace is undeserved favor. Not earned favor. God doesn’t love us nor is He Who He is because we are wonderful. It is because He is Wonderful.
Not that we don’t have value. He created us. He loves us. We are here to glorify Him. That all gives us incredible value.
The Lord’s eyes watch over us, His ears hear us and He responds to our needs. His arms embrace us when we are hurting, He smells the fragrant smell of our praise and worship. He speaks truth into our lives, and He walks in front of us, guiding us through each day. He is gracious, longsuffering, slow to anger, and so, so Rich in Mercy!! Let’s not take all that for granted.