The all seeing eye of God! His omniscience! He is watching everyone closely, taking note of each thought, word, and deed. Amazing thought. Selah.
On the above words of the Psalm, C.H. Spurgeon said:
"His eyelids try the children of men:" he narrowly inspects their actions, words and thoughts. As men, when intently and narrowly inspecting some very minute object, almost close their eyelids to exclude every other object, so will the Lord look all men through and through. God sees each man as much and as perfectly as if there were no other creature in the universe. He sees us always; he never removes his eye from us; he sees us entirely, reading the recesses of the soul as readily as the glancing of the eye." (Spurgeon in Treasury of David)
Again, I am simply awestruck when I consider how nothing I think, say, or do is hid from the Lord! The thought of this truth regarding the Deity ought to cause us to fear and tremble before the Lord and to realize that God is not a God who is far off, but a God who is nigh everyone of us. (See Acts 17: 27)
The next verse in the Psalm says: "The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked." (Psa. 11: 5) His eyes see and "try" all men, and "tests" each, both "the righteous and the wicked."
Elsewhere in the Psalms it is affirmed that "the righteous God tries the hearts and minds." (Psa. 7: 9)
But, how does God daily "try" or "test" the hearts and minds of men? How does his trying of the hearts and minds of the wicked differ from his trying of the righteous?
"For You have tried us, O God; You have refined us as silver is refined." (Psa. 66: 10)
Here it seems that the result of being "tried" by God is that the person is "refined," made spiritually and morally more pure than before. Knowing this has led the righteous to pray - "Examine me, O Lord, and try me; Test my mind and my heart." (Psa. 26: 2)
Notice those three words, all used to express God's watching and inspection; examine, try, test.
Testing or trying a heart or mind involves removing impurities, just as refining metals removes dross or foreign material. ("For You have tried us, O God;
You have refined us as silver is refined" - Psa. 66: 10) It has this effect upon the righteous, upon those who put their trust in the Lord. So Job confessed: "When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold." (Job 23: 10)
Testing hearts also involves discovery and revelation. So we read:
"You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not." (Deut. 8: 2)
"Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts." (Psa. 139: 23)
God already knows what is in a man's heart before he test it, for he is omniscient. Yet, God often uses anthropomorphic language in speaking of himself and his doings.
God tests in order to "prove" or otherwise demonstrate something about what is being tested.
God tests "the children of men," even those who are lost and most wicked. Of men in general it is written:
"You examine him every morning
And try and test him every moment?" (Job 7: 18 Amplified)
Tested by God every morning? And, every moment? Ponder that awhile!
But, with most men, they fail such testing. Life's trials, sent by God, do not purify the heart and mind of most men. Why does this daily testing succeed (in its positive effects, i.e. salvation) with some few while it fails with most others? That is the question argued between Pelagians and Augustinians, between Arminians and Calvinists, is it not?
The important question is this: are you asking God to inspect you? And, Are you asking him to refine and purify your heart and mind?
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