To and Fro: Whose Eyes are On You?

I'm not the type person who goes around looking for Satan and his crew of fallen angels hiding behind every rock.

More often, I know life's hardships are either a work of my own making or a direct work of God to draw me closer to Him, to reel me back in when I've strayed, or to burn off some impure part to make me as gold refined.

Over the past week, though, I have distinctly felt as if my family has been under attack. Each turn of the day found me reliving a Job-like moment when one servant after another would run in with more bad news.

Monday brought my daughter a painful ear infection, Thursday added her twin brother to the injured reserve with a case of pink eye, Friday brought sinus infections and high fever for both sons, and Friday evening found me with a scratched right cornea after I impaled it with a stick.

Then came Saturday morning with husband's news that no, he wasn't minutes from home but stranded out west because of flight delays and cancellations.

In the midst of it all, my mind kept envisioning Satan as he twice describes himself in the book of Job, as one who is "roaming about on the earth and walking around on it" (Job 1:7 & 2:2). The King James Version words it as Satan is "going to and fro in the earth."

I could even hear Peter in the New Testament warning Christians of Satan: "Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (1 Pet. 5:8).

The above verses are imprinted in my mind because they incite a bit of fear in me, serve as a warning that no Christian is ever "safe" from temptation, that I must ever be on alert against a vicious foe whose desire is to destroy man--any man--as a hungry lion seeks to devour any animal in its path.

Yet, these verses only tell half the message. And working with an incomplete message from the Lord will lead to nothing but fear, despair, and a gaping hole in our gospel.

While my heart clung to those images of Satan roaming around the earth, somehow, I missed a more important verse about my sovereign God doing the same, but with the opposite intent.

The writer of Chronicles states, "For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His" (2 Chron 6:9).

To and fro. The whole earth. Just like Satan.

But not at all like Satan.

Our God's eyes are moving throughout the earth not to destroy, not to devour, but to support, to strengthen His children.

And the same Peter who wrote of Satan's prowling? He also penned parallel words about the Lord and His eyes being ever on His children: "FOR THE EYES OF THE LORD ARE TOWARD THE RIGHTEOUS, AND HIS EARS ATTEND TO THEIR PRAYER" (1 Pet. 3:12). Again, the Lord's eyes are on those who are His not for their harm, but for their good.

Even in the midst of trials where you and I feel we are under attack from this prowling lion, if we are fully committed to the Lord, we can still feel peace, knowing that the Lord's eyes are always on us, too, always seeking to strengthen us for His glory.

Image: "to and fro" from "not1word"