He is Watching At All Times – First Commandment

He’s Watching at all Times

The First Commandment

Exodus, 20.2, 3; Deuteronomy 5.6, 7

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.”

We’re never out of His sight.

That phrase “before Me” in the first commandment is rather more arresting in the Hebrew. It’s more personal, something like, “before My face.” We’re always before God’s face. We are never out of His sight. I think some people believe that God is only watching them while they’re in church, so they make sure to dress nicely, pay attention, behave themselves, and so forth, so that they’ll look good to God. But we’re always before God’s face. So we better not kid ourselves into thinking we can serve other gods – wealth, fun, power, esteem, or any others – during the “non-church” times of our lives. God sees all our little escapades with false deities, and it doesn’t please Him. Primarily it doesn’t please Him because He knows we should obey Him (for all the reasons we’ve talked about this week), but also because He knows the false gods we indulge when we think He’s not looking are not really good for us. They will not bring us the happiness and fulfillment we think they will. That’s only available from God. So let’s be always mindful about the fact that we are always living before the watchful eye of God, and let us seek to please Him through worship and obedience to all His will in every moment and area of our lives. This is the way to full and abundant life.

Do you think often about God watching you at all times? How does that affect the way you carry out your daily activities and responsibilities?

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“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.