Are You Being Surveilled?

I had quite a scare this week. I received an alert from LIFELOCK asking me to contact them right away. For those that aren't familiar with that company, Lifelock is an American identity theft company that detects fraudulent applications for credit and illegal use of your personal information. I pay them a monthly fee to monitor my credit, bank account, any potential loans being taken out in my name, my SS #, and personal information. "If" someone were to get access to any of these things, I will be notified and asked if I was the person attempting to make a transaction. If any damages or threats result from stolen identity, Lifelock will handle the matter so that I am not liable for any damages. So when I received my first alert after being a member for three years, I became anxious knowing I may have become the victim of identity theft. Thank the good Lord such wasn't the case. Lifelock went to work immediately when I confirmed I was not the person who applied for credit to purchase a cellular plan from ATT U-Verse. Someone miswrote and transposed one number of their Social Security which matched my number and made it appear someone was using my number to apply for credit. The alert came because this person used their name and address but the SS number they marked down (my number) did not match that same person's address or phone number. Thank God Lifelock had their eyes watching over for me.

This is what I want to talk about today. The EYES that are watching you. You cannot step outside your front door without a camera or security system seeing you and recording every move you make. There aren't just surveillance cameras at courthouses and banks anymore, they exist on traffic lights, in grocery stores, parking lots, and so much more including on the front porch of homes through their RING doorbells and Blink security systems. Mine records activity 24/7 not only at my front door but beyond into the street, up the street, and every home as far as my eyes can see. It's humorous to observe how some people who come up on my front porch, notice the camera, then quickly turn and leave as if they had bad intentions. We are simply born with an innate inclination not to be watched or observed without our permission. It makes us uneasy, tense, edgy. We want our privacy! Often times, to compensate for this "intrusion" we will act our best when we know someone is watching. There are people that act entirely different during the hour they are at church in front of the preacher than when they are at home showing their true abusive colors with their spouse. Or how amazing it is that behavior changes when a policeman approaches our divers side window and announces he saw us running a red light. When we know someone has seen us doing something inappropriate or against the law, we suddenly plead for mercy or make an argument we were misunderstood. We hate being caught!

What many forget to realize is, you could remove every camera set up across the world and we are still being "surveilled"! The Psalmist David said it so well, "Where can I go from thy Spirit? Or where shall I flee from the presence?" (Psalm 139:7). God is omniscient. He sees and knows everything. Even the darkness does not keep Him from seeing (Psalm 139:11-12). God may reside in heaven but His Spirit is everywhere, "If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in hell, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn if I settle on the far side of the sea ..." (Psalm 139:8-9). Don't misunderstand, God is not IN hell, He can see into hell. He observes all. Nothing is hidden from His presence or knowledge. A little boy once said after being offered a dime if he could tell a certain man where God was. The boy answered, "Mister, I'll give you a dollar if you tell me where He ain't!"

The truth is, we sometimes forget that the Lord is watching all the time. Proverbs 15:3 states, "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good." He watches every step we take and He sees through every flimsy excuse offered in attempting to justify any unfaithfulness. There’s an all-seeing Eye watching all of us — Someone to whom our whole soul is laid bare (Hebrews 4:13; Psalm 90:8). God is the only being who can be present in all places simultaneously without ever-thinning out. He is present in the human mind through a part of Himself -His Spirit as a gift to man. Thus, He is conscious personally of you, He knows you intimately, He is aware of your ups and downs, your variant moods, your likes and dislikes, your intimate thoughts. God resides in that part of your mind where the citadel of your inner thinking takes place. The place where no one else can enter. His work in you is constant. His occupation in you has to do with your future life if you choose to faithfully follow Him. He is busy duplicating a spiritual counterpart of you, your real self, your evolving immortal soul FROM GLORY TO GLORY (2 Corinthians 3:18). Cooperate with Him. His wish is for you is to survive natural death. Sordid thoughts, selfish thoughts, and bad actions torture a Divine entity in you Whose purpose is to make you more than what you currently are.
Until next time,
-Pat-