The Way Things Feel vs. The Way Things Are

“The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.” –Psalm 11:4

God is present, both in His temple and on His throne. The temple is a place of atonement for the sake of worship. Blood is offered for the sins of the people who wish to draw near to the presence of God. And what would a person do who comes near to the divine presence? Worship! God’s throne is the place from which He rules. Making His presence known in His temple is never at the expense of His perfect authority over all that He has made. Only One who is perfectly omnipresent is capable of being truly–and equally–present in both places at once. Those who would have their sins covered so that they may enter the presence of the Almighty must also be coming to offer their obedience to Him who is gracious and holy.

He who is everywhere present maintains a thorough knowledge of all that transpires in every portion of His dominion. “His eyes see…the children of men.” That is the truth about the way things are. Yet the world of our experience does not always seem to be in line with this revealed truth. “His eyelids test the children of man.” Eyes are indicative of gazing while eyelids are indicative of inattention or sleep. Some days it feels like our trials are our own only and that God is taking no notice of our troubles (this is not the way things are, only the way that they seem). Take heart at the next phrase, “The Lord tests the righteous.” (Ps.11:5a). Does it seem that God is not paying attention to you even though you have devoted yourself utterly to Him? This is how He deals with the righteous at times! But why?

How would it be if every wish of yours were granted just as soon as the desire had entered your heart? What sort of expectations would you develop as you learned that your every whim would be satisfied instantly? Prayer would be out. Faith would be out. Work would be out. Probably love would become a much poorer version of itself in a world where giving cost the giver nothing in particular. God tests the righteous with a show of inattentiveness even though the truth of how things are is that He is ever seeing; this is for the purpose of purifying our love and strengthening our faith. “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb.11:6). So there are times when God appears to hide His face so that we may walk by faith alone to the end that our way is pleasing to Him who gazes upon us in spite of how we feel.