The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. (Proverbs 15:3)

When I was in my late teens and early twenties, battling sexual sin, I sometimes lived like God was blind (or, if not blind, at least distracted and oblivious). I would never have said he was blind — I would have scoffed at the idea. Behind that outward clarity, though, was an inward and poisonous uncertainty. I was coddling a lie.

Psalm 94 gives us a glimpse into the dangerous logic of persistent sin:

O Lord, how long shall the wicked,
     how long shall the wicked exult? . . .
They kill the widow and the sojourner,
     and murder the fatherless;
and they say, “The Lord does not see.” (Psalm 94:3, 6–7)

Satan whispered to Adam and Eve, “Did God actually say?” (Genesis 3:1). Here, he whispers, “Does God really see? No, God doesn’t see what you’re doing. He’s not able to watch everyone all the time. And if he is, he couldn’t possibly have the time or interest to deal with it. God doesn’t see your sinning. It’s safe to sin one more time.”

It’s not safe — first, because God does see; second, because eventually you won’t.

God Sees Your Sinning

Do you quietly believe that God doesn’t see your secret sin? Even if you know he sees, does your life say otherwise? God addresses the lie right here in Psalm 94:8–11. Hear the warning:

Understand, O dullest of the people!
     Fools, when will you be wise?
He who planted the ear, does he not hear?
He who formed the eye, does he not see?
He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke?
He who teaches man knowledge —
     the Lord — knows the thoughts of man,
     that they are but a breath.

He made the eye. Do you think he can’t see what you’re doing? He made the ear. Do you think he can’t hear what you’re saying? He doesn’t just know what you’re doing and saying; he knows what you’re thinking — he “knows the thoughts of man” (verse 11).

“God sees. And if you continue to act like he doesn’t, you’ll soon lose your ability to see.”

“No creature is hidden from his sight,” Hebrews 4:13 warns, “but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Do you feel naked and exposed before God? Do you remember that you’ll actually have to explain what he saw? These feelings and reminders are weapons God has given us in the fight for our holiness and joy — weapons we all too often leave buried in the basement.

The lie dies when we pray like the all-seeing God teaches us to pray:

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
     you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
     and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
     behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. (Psalm 139:1–4)

God sees. And if you continue to act like he doesn’t, you’ll soon lose your ability to see.

Sin Darkens Your Seeing

Notice that the wicked in Psalm 94 don’t just quietly believe what Satan is saying. They don’t just think the lie in the back of their minds while they keep sinning. No, by verse 7, they’re preaching Satan’s terrible sermon for him. “They say, ‘The Lord does not see.’”

That’s what indulging in sin — any sin — does to us. Sin takes us from believing “God doesn’t see” to preaching “God doesn’t see,” until we eventually reject and ignore God altogether.

Persistent sin hardens us until we can’t see or hear or feel spiritual reality anymore. And spiritual reality is ultimate reality, the most real reality. If we refuse to repent, we walk and eat and sin in a world filled with the glory of God — and yet we can’t see him or hear him anywhere. It’s like walking along the Pacific Ocean and wondering where the water is. Twelve thousand miles of waves are raging right beside you, and all you notice is the sand between your toes. God still sees everything, including all of you, but you see devastatingly little — nothing but grains of sand in a vast and thrilling world.

Sin does horrible things to people, and this is the worst thing it does to us. It slowly weakens our eyes until the unspeakably glorious God seems small, aloof, and then, eventually, imaginary. Giving in to sin will darken your soul by hiding heaven.

See Him as He Is

Is some sin doing that to you? You might say that God is real, that he sees everything, that he’ll judge every wrong one day — but if you secretly persist in that sin, you’re proving you don’t believe any of that. And if you keep returning to that swamp of lust or bitterness or greed or self-pity, you’ll see less and less and less until you can’t see at all. You’ll miss the ocean even as you stand in it.

Let today be the day your blinding ends. Jesus came to forgive our worst sins, even the ones we commit in secret. And he came to give us new and wider eyes. “Blessed are the pure in heart,” he promises, “for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). If spiritual blindness is the worst thing sin does to us, these new eyes might be the greatest mercy God gives us.

God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6)

While millions are blinded and imprisoned in the dark, our eyes fall on Jesus and see beauty, strength, truth, and worth. God sees all, and by his grace, he lets us see the glory he sees. And soon enough, these new eyes will be filled with him.

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)