The innocency of childhood

All photos courtesy of Unsplash 

If you observe the behaviour of young children, it is often fascinating. They are more honest than adults, they let you know when they are happy, and when they are upset, as adults we often hide our emotions behind such phrases as, ‘I’m fine’ or I’ll be Okay!’ When often we are not, and we definitely will not be Okay!

Young children do not have to be taught to do wrong, that seems to come naturally. However, our God-given conscience tells us when we have done wrong. Young children often hide from their parents when they have disobeyed and often this is the first time their parents know of the minor misdemeanour.

The first people to sin in the Bible hid from God, but the reality is that we can not hide from God. David in Psalm 139 tells us that wherever he goes, he can not be outside the observing presence of God.

In Genesis 16, God is described by the title “El Roi” which means the God who sees. In one sense this is very humbling as He is the God who sees all. He knows all about us, all our actions, all our words and all our thoughts. He is able to see all that we would not want others to know about us, all we delete, all we hide.

The story is told of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, he sent a telegram to some prominent people in society at the early 1900s. The telegram read, ‘Flee! All has been discovered!’ Within twenty-four hours many of them had actually left the country. The telegram had suggested to them that the thing that bothered their conscience was about to be revealed.

All is open to God, He knows the best about us and the worst. Yet as we consider El Roi, the God who sees, we also see the other side of it. In Genesis 16 a young servant girl had fled, she was pregnant and all alone. No means of supporting herself and no prospects and no hope. Yet El Roi, the God who sees, saw her in her plight and sent an angel with a message, a plan and a promise.

In Ephesians 2 we read that we ‘were without Christ’ and had ‘no hope in this world’. Yet the God who sees all our sin also sees our misery, our great need, our problems and our anxieties. The God who sees, saw the plight of helpless mankind, who had no prospects and came up with a plan to lead to a huge promise.

God’s plan was extraordinary! We all are sinners and God is utterly perfect. We deserve nothing from God, but His wrath, but He has shown us a love that is beyond our comprehension. This love brought the Son of God, Jesus Christ, down from Heaven to live a perfect life of love, caring and healing those around Him. Yet the God who sees, saw a cross where the perfect Son of God must suffer in our place, taking the punishment we deserved. What love.

The God who sees, knows all about us, He knows how it is that we react to that great love. He knows if we appreciate it or turn it away, He knows if we are relying on it or not!

On the cross the Lord Jesus Christ went through immense suffering for the sin of the whole world. It was not just the beating, the thorns and the nails, as horrific as they were, He took our punishment for sin. We need to come to God in repentance and believe in Him, accepting forgiveness from the God who saw us in our sin and loved us unto death, even the death of the cross.

The God who sees, knows if you have trusted Him, and He is waiting and watching for those yet to trust in Him.

Written by Stuart Scammell For Messages with Meaning (29/09/21) & Your542Day