Week 6 Psalm 33
Verse thirteen says: the Lord looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man.
Verse fourteen says: from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth.
The two verses are slightly different in language but roughly equal in meaning.
There’s heaven and there’s earth.
There’s the Lord and there’s everyone else.
And the Lord (in heaven) is observing everyone (on earth).
One way to think of what the Lord is doing – David says he looks down & he looks out – is in a sinister way. Covertly from heaven the Lord is tracking my every move. Spying. Monitoring. Intruding. Looking for gaffs. Waiting to pounce. That’s one way.
But David says a couple of other things in the psalm that make me think twice.
He says that on the national level the Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
Then on the personal level the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him (and) who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul from death.
So the Lord (who is observing-people’s-deeds’ as it says in verses 13 & 14) is also assessing the situation and then taking action.
The Observing God observes. Not neutrally or impassively or without any rhyme-or-reason or without any good reason. He’s a Purpose-Driven Observing God. Watching is just one of the things he’s doing.
Note: quotes from Psalm 33:13-14 10 18-19 15 (ESV)