from a distance

“My witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high.”  Job 16:19 

I’ve been wondering what God sees when He watches our world.  What does He see when he watches ME for one particular day?  Does He see me catering to my own whims and wants?  Does He see me making decisions based on love or fear? 

Bette Midler had a hit song in the 1990s that gave a God-eyed view of the world.  In the song, from God’s far vantage point, what matters most is love and care and universal flourishing:      

          “From a distance we all have enough
             And no one is in need
         And there are no guns, no bombs, no disease,
           No hungry mouths to feed.
          From a distance, you look like my friend
            Even though we are at war.
         From a distance, I cannot comprehend
            What all the fighting’s for.
                         God is watching us from a distance.”

God is watching us.  The really good news is that He is not just watching us from afar, but is intimately involved in our lives.  The bad news is that many of us don’t live like He is watching us at all.  We don’t think about what God is witnessing us do to one another or to ourselves.  Is He seeing me make that snarky comment to the driver who honked because I didn’t start up fast enough when the light turned green?  Does He see me drive by that homeless person on the corner with my eyes averted?  Does He hear me victim-blaming a friend going through a very difficult season and intimating that her current situation is her own fault?  Does He watch us as some of us cheer inwardly or even outwardly at the misfortune of people who hold to different political beliefs?  Is He proud of us for that?  Or does His heart break a little. 

I think that God is profoundly ashamed of most of us, because in any given day I know my own heart can be very judgmental, envious, defensive or self-indulgent. “None of us is good, no not one.”  (Romans 3:10-12) We try, but we all have personal moral failures.

The good news is that God is not only witness, but Advocate.  He sees us in all our selfishness and superiority, and as the verdict convicting us of our sins is presented, He steps in to receive our punishment.  And He forgives us. 

But the question I have to ask is, if I have been seen and forgiven, what right have I to withhold forgiveness, love and provision from any other creature, no matter how undeserving I might think he is?
                   “Because my sinless Savior died my sinful soul is counted free
                    For God, the Just, is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me."                                                                                Charitie Bancroft 

Love, Liz