This week I wanted to see a place that I had read about. A place right here in northeast Iowa that I had never heard about before. Having grown up here and now having lived here again for another 40 years, I was surprised that I had neither heard of nor visited this place of interest here in our part of Iowa. So, we set out to find this place. Having the ability to Google and find a place on a map made it seem to be no problem to follow a map and find this place of interest. We followed the Google map and followed the roads that seemed indicated. And made what we thought were the right turns. It soon became apparent to us that we were in a part of Iowa that neither of us had ever been in before. It was rather remote , and seemed to be a very private neighborhood though we were on public roads that were good country roads but not so well maintained. Most of the houses were set back from the road, many driveways with no visible signs of the residents and most with iron gates preventing entrance. They certainly were not or did not seem very welcoming to us, the visitors in the area. We did not feel comfortable approaching a house to ask a question—not at all!
We tried several different roads to see where we might have missed what we were searching for and in doing so we drove one section 4 different times. So what was the problem with that one might ask? Well, normally nothing would be the problem with us repeating a drive several times. We have the right to be on the public road as much as anyone. The problem was that we had noticed many many no trespassing signs along the roads we were driving. No trespassing at the driveways, no trespassing into the fields, no trespassing into the woods. It was very plain to us that we were to stay out!! What we were looking for was a public area. With all the no trespassing signs and no indication of where the public hiking area was located, made it remain hidden from us.
It reminded me that the way to find God is not hidden from us. We are given a map that will get us to him quickly. We are not sent on wild goose chases—just need to open our Bible Maps and we will find the way to Him without fail.
But even more noticeable was that each NO TREASPASSING sign included the message that we would be under surveillance by camera! After a while all those eyes started to make us a bit paranoid. We tried looking to see if we could spot one of those cameras that were threatening us with imprisonment if we disobeyed! I suppose it was a trail camera that was meant to not be discovered! At any rate, we were very conscious of watching eyes!
We never did find the area we were searching for and it is still an unknown place for us to perhaps discover another time. Since then, we have been told that we did not use our technology in the right way! That proper use would have given us the directions. Oh my! We are technology deficient for sure. We are too old school paper map and atlas users. Learning to use, remembering to use, and learning how to use, new things is becoming more stressful! Even though it is designed to make life so much easier for us.
Not long ago, I had another moment with Eyes that Spy! Around 9:30pm one evening I Goggled information on Praise Banners! Just 15 minutes later, I noticed an ad on Facebook for Praise Banners! I had never seen that ad before! I felt spied on!
I have watched with interest what has been happening in many of our local communities. One by one they have announced that cameras would be enforcing the speed limits. And these cameras seem to have a long reach! Our own families have been caught by these cameras and have had to pay the resulting fine! Apparently there are many others that have been caught. Traffic movement definitely slows down now that there are known cameras taking pictures of the disobedient!
My question is why do people obey when there is a known camera taking pictures but it wasn't important to be obedient when there was no camera? The law has not changed with just putting a camera in place!
A couple of Bible texts come to mind on this subject of watching eyes:
“For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He ponders all his paths” (Psalm 5:21). “The eyes of the Lord are in every place. They keep watch over the evil and the good” (Proverbs 15:3). There is no place on earth, in heaven, or in hell that we can go where God cannot see us. He is watching over us in every sphere of our lives.
A trip with Google provided me with this--
Displaying images of eyes causes people to behave more pro-socially. People behave differently because they know they are being watched. It can affect all sorts of behaviors such as dietary habits, or hygiene practices because these have considerable opportunity for instantaneous modification. The Hawthorne Effect refers to the fact that people will modify their behavior simply because they are being observed. The effect gets its name from one of the most famous industrial history experiments that took place at Western Electric's factory in the Hawthorne suburb of Chicago in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
It seems sad that we only choose to obey when we know that we are being watched. How soon we forget that Someone is always watching! That Someone is omnipotent (all powerful), omnipresent (everywhere), omniscient (all knowing), omnibenevolent (all loving), transcendent (outside of this world). Christians also believe that God is timeless and eternal. We do not need signs that tell us to stay out because He is watching. We should always stay away from what He tells us is forbidden, just as Eve should have stayed away from what she was told to stay away from. It should not make a difference to us whether there is a camera or not. We should always be in obedience whether there is a camera recording our actions of disobedience or obedience. Be obedient because it is right, not because we are forced to by a fine!
God our Father is seemingly the proverbial parent with eyes in the back of His head that sees our every action . And He records them in His book, with His Heavenly digital camera!
Be Ware! God is watching our every action and knows every thought!
