God Is Ever Watchful

God is ever watchful even when our sins separate us from Him.

“Your sins have separated you from God.” (Isaiah 59:2)

When the Babylonians took Judah captive, Jeremiah wrote one of the saddest laments for God’s beloved people. The book is called Lamentations and it really isn’t easy to read, and that’s because it reminds us of our own failings before a holy and righteous God.

There’s one particular verse that was hard for me to read, and one that reminds me of what my sins do in my relationship with God.

“How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in His anger! He cast down from heaven to the earth the beauty of Israel, and did not remember His footstool in the day of His anger.” (Lamentations 2:1)

The Lord has covered Israel in a cloud, not so that He doesn’t have to see them, but rather so that their vision of Him is obscured. Along with their captivity, the loss of such vision is God’s judgment. Since they ceased to look to the Lord for their life, He now obscures that view. Israel does not see her God.

But that doesn’t mean that God has stopped watching Israel, or for that matter any one of us.

“Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” (Psalm 121:4)

The story of the Prodigal Son exemplifies this truth. When the son came to his senses and returned to his father’s house the father was watching for him.

“But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.” (Luke 15:20)

Let’s all come to our senses today and return to the Lord, asking God to forgive us our sins. When we make that turn towards God, He is there, as He always has been, watching and waiting and will in like manner fall on our neck and kiss us.