Today’s Devotional: “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 over God’s beloved people. The book is called Lamentations, and it isn’t easy to read because it reminds us of our failings before a holy and righteous God.

There’s one particular verse that was hard for me to read, and it reminds me of how my sins affect 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 with a cloud, not so that He doesn’t have to see them, but so that their vision of Him is obscured. Along with their captivity, the loss of that vision is God’s judgment. Since they ceased to look to the Lord for their lives, He has now obscured that view. Israel does not see her God.

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

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

The story of the Prodigal Son illustrates this truth. When the son came to his senses and returned to his father’s house, the father was waiting 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 come to our senses today and return to the Lord, asking God to forgive our sins. When we turn toward God, He is there, as He always has been, watching and waiting, and will, in like manner, fall on our necks and kiss us.