The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good (Proverbs 15:3).

This Proverb makes me think of Ezekiel chapter 10 and Revelation chapter 4 -- some of the Bible's apocalyptic imagery, with these fantastic, supernatural creatures with fur and feathers, wings and voices.  There's one especially distinctive feature to these supernatural creatures, in both of these apocalyptic visions:  they're completely covered with eyes.  On their arms and legs, their fronts and backs, their tails and wings, even the haloes around them -- they are full of eyes, looking in every direction, seeing every thing.  The imagery is perhaps a bit grotesque, but it's powerful.  If these subservient apocalyptic beings can see everything happening to the north, to the south, to the east, and to the west, how much more can their Creator see into every situation with absolute transparency?!?

It's a sobering thought, to realize that the eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on all of us at all times.  And not just the things that can be visually sensed -- but also our thoughts and feelings.  You mean the eyes of the LORD are in the bathroom with me when I'm examining myself in the mirror and on the scale?  Yup, that's a part of "everywhere."  Do you mean that the eyes of the LORD are on me when I become frustrated with some idiot driver on the roads and (presumably privately) berate him inside my head?  Yes, that's a part of "everywhere," too.  The eyes of the LORD are upon me when I speak to my children in harsh tones, when I mop the floors of the church's bathrooms, when I surf the internet, when I sing lullabyes to my children at night, when I dive under the bedcovers at the end of the day.  The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on both wicked and good things that happen in and around me.

In some ways, this might feel creepy, oppressive, kind of like Big Brother from Orwell's 1984... But at the same time, I think it's comforting to know that God is so intimately acquainted with our lives.  If I'm wronged in some way, I don't have to wonder, "Does anybody see what's going on here?!?  Does anybody care?"  God sees it and cares about it; He recognizes it for the evil that it is.  Or on the contrary, if I try my hardest to be good and loving and selfless but nobody else ever seems to notice it or say anything about it, I don't have to wonder, "Does anybody notice me?!?  Does anybody care?"  God sees it and cares about it; He recognizes it for the good that it is.  The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.