Homilist 2 Chronicles 7:12-16 And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him, I have heard your prayer… In anthropomorphic language eyes are ascribed to God; thus we read "that the eye of the Lord is on them that fear Him" (Psalm 38:18). Thus again, "I will guide thee with Mine eye" (Psalm 32:8). He is said to be of "purer eyes than to behold evil" (Hebrews 1:13). A similar form of speech ascribes "ears" to God. Thus we have these words — "In Mine ears, saith the Lord of hosts" (Isaiah 5:9); "The cries of them which have reaped are entered into the cars of the Lord of Sabaoth" (James 5:4.) What does this language mean? Why are eyes and cars ascribed to a Spirit that has no limits and no form? The language is used for two purposes. I. To express His COGNIZANCE of man. Through the eye and the ear we derive our knowledge of all outside of us. 1. He knows us directly. 2. He knows us thoroughly. (1) He knows what we are. (2) He knows what we have been. (3) He knows all that we ever shall be.To him there is nothing old appears, to Him there is nothing new. A sense of His knowledge of us should make us frank, solemn, circumspect, devout. II. To express His INTEREST IN man. God's interest in us is shown — 1. In the various capacities of enjoyment with which He has endowed us, and the provisions He has made for them. We have capacity for every species of enjoyment — sensuous, intellectual, social, religious. We can drink of all the rivers from the eternal ocean of joy. For the sensuous there is matter, for the intellectual there is truth, for the social there is society, for the religious there is Himself. 2. In the preservation of our existence, notwithstanding our sinfulness. We have transgressed His precepts, warred against His arrangements, yet He preserves us year after year. The patience of an Infinite Love is here. 3. In our redemption by Jesus Christ. "God so loved the world," etc. "He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up," etc. Conclusion: "Thou God seest me," we unite with the blessed fact, "Thou God lovest us." It is His interest in us that prompts Him to watch our movements and listen to our words. (Homilist.). Parallel Verses KJV: And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice. |
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