The Eyes of the Lord Are Searching

This is the Truth Network. We're unpacking some powerful ideas, thinking of the big picture that God has, the way that he sees us, and today, specifically, that his eyes search, the wording here is to and fro. That's 2 Chronicles 16, 9. 2 Chronicles 16, 9. The eyes of the Lord are searching to and fro across the whole earth for what? He's searching for those that he can lend support to, show support to. Scratch that word, lend. That's not the right word.

To show, to demonstrate support to you. Just a little background information here. In an earlier show, in our last episode, we looked at the big picture that God sees from the perspective of Deuteronomy 7, 9, that God is God and he keeps covenant and mercy. Another place says he keeps covenant and showeth mercy to a thousand generations.

We're talking big picture. It's not so finite as this moment or this year or the most recent 5 years. This is an eternal father. Eternity past, present, and future is his scope. So he is moving in a way that is different from the way that we typically, and I would have to add, intellectually perceive things. We can be very, very cerebral at times, and we think that we can capture the way that he thinks and the way that he moves based on the way that we think and the way that we move.

Actually, that is not the case. That is very limiting when we think that way. He is moving in cycles, in circles. He is moving through generations. His moving, we said earlier, is panoptic. So he sees the whole view at one time.

A panoptic view would be an aerial view. And as Deuteronomy 7, 9 expresses, for a thousand generations, for a thousand generations, my generation, your generation, earlier generations, generations to come, because he is unlimited, you see, it is an eternal focus that he has. So stay with me here. I want to walk us through what this means for you, for those you care about, the situations you care about, the things you pray concerning, continuing with this idea that God sees everything all at once. He sees the whole all at once. So this entire verse, 2 Chronicles 16, 9, I'll read it here. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.

Other translations express that last thought this way, those whose hearts are fully committed to him. So again, the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him, those whose hearts are fully committed to him. So this is God's determined and intentional reaching for his individual creation.

That's for you. And at the same time, and this is really important, there is a counterforce led by Satan himself. Now compared to God's working to anything that Satan can contrive, there is no comparison. This is not apples and apples, but he is an enemy. His work is out there and you can't be ignorant.

We shouldn't dismiss what that can look like or not factor it in. That's a better way to say it. You need to factor in the opposition that's working because honestly, sometimes you think it's you and you'll be hard on yourself. Put yourself down, condemn yourself thinking you don't qualify. And I mean, and God just said he wants to support you.

If your heart is blameless toward him, if you're fully committed to him and already you feel inferior, like you can't measure up to that. But listen, it's so important to realize God sees the heart. He looks at things in the whole perspective. He's known you from before the time that you were born. That means before the womb. The actual Bible statement is from or before the foundation of the worlds, plural. So before creation, God knew you.

He is very generous toward you, very intentional to bring you fully into not only what you desire, but his highest and best plan for you. So back to this point about the opposition to what God is trying to do and how that affects you, even the way that you perceive yourself. I'm going to take the very same wording, the eyes of the Lord run to and fro, fro throughout the whole earth.

That's hard to say to and fro, to and fro throughout the whole earth. And listen to this passage that is similar. It has to do with Satan. Job chapter two, verses one and two. And you know the book of Job is the story of tremendous loss, tremendous loss. And over a period of time, the suffering of one man. That is what we know about the book of Job, right?

But let's focus in here. Early in the book, chapter two, verses one and two, verse one, there was a day when the sons of God, and that means the angels, came to present themselves before the Lord. And Satan, remember he is a fallen angel, actually a created spirit. Satan who is adversary and accuser also came up with them. So here is this company presenting themselves before the Lord. And I know there's a lot to understand here, but just stay with me. Verse two, and the Lord said to Satan, where have you come from? Where have you come from? So the Lord addresses him.

I mean, think about it. Satan has come into the presence of the Lord and the Lord confronts him. He said, Satan, where have you come from? Not that God doesn't know where Satan has been and what he's doing, but he just puts it to him.

Where have you come from? And Satan answered the Lord and he said it this way, from going to and fro on the earth and from walking up and down on it, from going to and fro on the earth and from walking up and down on it. So the wording here is similar to what we've read about the eyes of the Lord searching us out.

And we find out here that Satan also is moving to and fro, but guess what? He is limited. He doesn't have that aerial view. He doesn't see eternity, past, present and future all in one scope.

He is walking, walking to and fro, up and down and is limited. He is finite. He is not omnipresent as is our almighty God, our heavenly Father.

You see, there's no comparison here. He is limited to walking to and fro on the earth, but keep in mind that he is. He is walking to and fro on the earth. And we know from another passage that he is looking for those that he can harm in some way to kill, to steal from or to destroy. So the wording here, also in most translation, is that Satan walks the earth. He isn't, again, omnipresent, but is a spirit and as a spirit does have the ability to move about and command the evil spirits who are aligned with him. Therefore, under his command, under his control to do the same thing that he is doing.

And again, going to and fro, walking about up and down on the earth. So what does this mean? What's the takeaway here? First of all, your heavenly Father is almighty. He is all powerful.

Keep that straight, first and foremost. Secondly, Satan's adversarial role is just that, adversarial, against you. And his movement, his role was never God's idea. Satan's existence and Satan's role and his function now is because of the choosing by fallen man. This is man's choosing to align with the evil that Satan represents.

And there's plenty of background here, but just for today's message, just keep in mind that you have a good heavenly Father who loves you in an unlimited way. And you have an adversary Satan who is determined to thwart God's goodness to you and to intercept it every way possible. So ultimately, and this would be third, the third point here, to the extent that we recognize God as God, whose role is love for us, and plus understand we have an enemy, Satan, whose full intention is to work harm in our lives up to and including the destruction of everything about us and everything concerning us, then and only then do we have the big picture. We can't even approach having the big picture unless we understand these two opposing forces. God is for you. Satan is against you. Don't flip flop those or confuse them. Ultimately, everything you experience, everything that you walk out today in the here and now will pivot on your understanding of the eternal aspect of those two criteria and be able to see the big picture, begin to see the big picture as God sees it, as he sees you.

And the qualifier here is across the board. It affects every one of us, whatever your age, your generation, absent a relationship with God, the world will see to it that you receive false information about him and it will come in on every side from every direction. If God was a good and loving God, why would he allow this? If God loves you so much, why doesn't he answer your prayer? If God is so good, why did he allow so and so or this and that? And if God really has a plan for you, why are you so lost and alone and despairing?

Why? You see, the fault is laid at the feet of God, which is the opposite of where the fault and the accusation should be laid. But remember, Satan is the accuser. He reverses and ascribes to God the thing that he is guilty of. I know some people like that.

I bet you do too. I know some movements like that and some organizations like that, philosophies like that. Mindsets can even be that way. So focus right here on how it really lines up because anytime we find ourselves in a desperate place, the next logical step is to look for help. And if we don't feel that God cares or that he hears, we're going to look elsewhere for a solution.

For what? For help, relief, for hope. And there's some crazy things out there that are available, none of which can provide the tools that you need to deal with that desperate feeling, to deal with anxiety or depression or how about this one, life's disappointments.

Now that's a daily dose right there. But do you know that people do not realize that the disappointment I'm experiencing right now is because we are living in a fallen world and things cannot be right unless we are aligned with Almighty God in a relational way and that we choose to obey him no matter what. That is the hope on this side of heaven because of the choices that men have made, the choices that have gone ahead of us, certainly all the way back in the history of man. So let's keep the record straight here. Let's get our Bible history straight here. These disappointments are not God's idea and he is amazingly answering our prayer many times in ways that we do not even realize.

As we say many times on this show, working behind the scenes always, always. But if we don't realize that, the result is we just sort of wander around, still not finding, still not knowing how or what to do, but just not quite ready to trust the Lord, to take a chance on him. Let me tell you what you need. You need to know how to study the Word because that's your answer. The Word is the answer to how to combat Satan and the way that he attacks your thoughts, the way to combat the wrong things that he engineers in the spirit world against you. For example, the words that you choose to say are often the cause of the very things that are overwhelming you.

But how would you know that? If you do not know God's Word, if you do not know or have a relationship with him, then you would have no way of knowing that your words many times are carving out the difficult things that you then experience because words are powerful and they have the power of life and death. They have the power of light and darkness. The words that we choose will cause us to align one way or another, you see.

So if that's you, if you're always looking for help, always researching self-help aids, how to be better at this, how to handle that, always searching, remember this. Bottom line, your answer is right here in 2 Chronicles 16 verse 9. The eyes of the Lord are looking for you, searching for you, moving to and fro throughout the whole earth in order to give you these answers, to show you strong support, to help you move in a direction that causes you to align with this outpouring of God's goodness because God wants to give you strong support. And I want to tell you, I know what you're thinking. Yes, you do qualify. So don't tell me that you don't qualify.

I'm telling you, you do qualify more than you realize. And we can settle that right now. If you haven't before, settle it now and pray this way. I'm going to lead you right now. Pray this way. Father God, your word in 2 Chronicles 16, 9 assures me that if I seek you out, that you search for me no matter where I am, no matter what my condition is, because you want, you deeply in your heart want to come alongside of me, show me your strong support and all the benefit that that contains. Well, I'm saying to you now, Lord, in fact, yes, that's what I want too.

That's what I need also. And if I do not qualify because you look on the heart, if my heart is not blameless toward you, if I am not fully committed to you, then today I change that because I want to be. I want you in my life and not just as an add on. I want you to be my savior and I want to make you my Lord. And I want to do that today, right now. So Lord, take me at my word. I take you at your word. And I thank you God that you hear me and that you change my life today.

Wow, lots, lots to think about here. I've learned as I mature in my faith, I never outgrow encouragement, the need for encouragement. It is so necessary and I need right leadership, bodily leadership from other people around me all the time. And if we here at Running with Horses can be that for you, whether it be encouragement or anything else, just reach out to us and you can use this email to do that. The email is info at acleartrumpet.org. That's info at acleartrumpet.org, subject line, I listen to your podcast. Just simply, just tell us where you are.

Tell us how we can pray for you. Tell us what you need again. That's info at acleartrumpet.org, subject line, I listen to your podcast. And for everyone you can also join us to add your support to our show. This show, Running with Horses, go to acleartrumpet.org forward slash give.

That's acleartrumpet.org forward slash give. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support this podcast, please share it with others. Post about it on social media or leave a rating and review. Don't forget to check out the show notes or visit acleartrumpet.org where you can subscribe to Shirley's email list. Download the ministry app and purchase your very own copy of Shirley's 365-day devotional, Running with Horses. Thanks again and we'll see you next time.