He entered again into a synagogue; and a man was there whose hand was withered. They were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.
Mark 3:1-2 (NASB)
Today’s devotional is about being watched, which can be unsettling. I remember one day a while ago when I had the feeling of being watched as I was walking out to the car, I looked left and right seeing no one…then I looked up where I saw our cat on the roof of our garden shed. She gave me that searching look that may have asked “Where do you think you’re going?” – after all cats rule the house, right? There are other occasions when I have felt watched; one being when the grandson had his nose pressed to the window when I thought he was playing in the garden, his cheeky grin confirming his delight at startling me. On a more serious note in our scripture today, Jesus is being watched intently by the Pharisees, so that they may find reason to accuse Him of some terrible infraction of the Sabbath law – but He knew they were watching.
The story of this scripture is not isolated, Christ’s enemies always watched Him for an opportunity to bring charges against Him – they wanted Him dead! As I meditated on this verse, an obvious conclusion came to my mind: that if our Lord’s enemies watched Him closely, His enemies today also watch us closely. I have seen videos reporting this very thing in society; our government is watching us – that is Bible-believing Christians. We hear more stories in Christian news sources confirming that society sees true believers as a threat to social order. This is a worrying development, but it is only in the early stages before such scrutinization of Christians becomes more frequent and overt.
Dear Reader, we are being watched! And it is not necessarily always ‘big brother,’ but by those we live, work, or shop with each day. The agents of Satan watched Jesus, and you can be certain they are watching us today, waiting for us to stumble. But there is good news too; the world is watching us but more importantly, so is our God. As the song says “his eye is on the sparrow Oh yes, I, I know He watches over me.“ Take courage brethren, the Almighty Creator who cares and provides for the humble sparrow is watching out for you today! That is reason to feel secure and confident in Him today.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Devotional Treasures
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