From J. C. Philpot's Daily Portions
October 25 "For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he sees their
every step." Job 34:21 The Christian has to prove that nothing escapes the eye
of a just and holy God; that he lays bare every secret thought, searches
every hidden purpose, and scrutinizes every desire and every movement of the
mind. He thus discovers and brings to light all the secret sins of the
heart. Men in general take no notice of heart sins; if they can keep from
overt sins in life, from open acts of immorality, they are satisfied. What
passes in the secret chambers of imagery they neither see nor feel. Not so
with the child of grace; he knows the experience described in Psalm 139. He
carries about with him the secret conviction that the eye of God reads every
thought. Every inward movement of pride and self-righteousness, rebellion,
discontent, peevishness, fretfulness, lust, and extravagance, he inwardly
feels that the eye of God reads all, marks all, condemns by his righteous
law all, and because he is so intrinsically pure, hates and abhors all. Thus he proves, among the "all things" which are weighed
up and measured in the inward court of conscience by the unerring standard
of the word of truth, the light of the Spirit's teaching, and the workings
of godly fear, that he is a sinner before God, and that of a deeper dye and
more crimson hue than any other transgressor, for he sees and knows his own
heart, which nobody else can see or know. He is indeed aware that many may
have sinned more deeply and grossly as regards outward acts; but he feels
that no one can have sinned inwardly more foully and continually than he;
and this makes him say with Job, "I have heard of you by the hearing of the
ear; but now mine eye sees you; wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust
and ashes" (Job 42:5, 6).