One of the stages of human development is object permanence. If the baby can’t see you, you do not exist. That’s why peek-a-boo is so much fun. We keep popping in and out of their life. I could very well be wrong but I think I saw a version of this last night with our five month old lab, Annie. She was being naughty and I called to her to get down. Instead of getting down she hid her face so she could not see me. Was she thinking if she could not see me, I could not see her? This is not the first time she has done this.
I think some people are like this with God. If they can’t see Him then He doesn’t exist. Or if He does exist perhaps He won’t see them if they don’t see or look for Him. However, like Annie and me, I could still see her whether she thought so or not and God can still see us whether we think so or not, or whether we like it or not. We are quite visible to Him.
Jonah discovered there wasn’t any place to hide. And the Psalmist said, “If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.” Psalms 139:8 The point is very simple. We are watched. God is hoping He will catch us doing something good so He can enjoy watching us reap the good results. As for being punished for doing something bad, He doesn’t have to do that. He can merely allow us to reap the negative results of our bad decisions.
Written by Roger Bothwell on May 21, 2010
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org