God Sees and God Remembers

​God is omniscient.  He sees and knows everything.  Nothing is hidden from His penetrating eye and His memory is infallible.  Though heaven and earth will pass away, He does and will not forget.  Therefore, God’s omniscience is kind of scary to contemplate.  The fact that God sees both our good deeds and bad and will remember them through eternity is a sobering thought, and one that most people refuse to entertain.   

​We prefer to dwell on the notion that God will never forget His promises to us while simultaneously ignoring the fact that God also sees and remembers each of our transgressions.  They are not hidden from his penetrating gaze.  Though we often act like God does not know our darkest secrets and “hidden” sins, the fact remains that God sees and God remembers.  And God will eventually bring all those things to our attention.
 
Why?  Two reasons:  1) because He loves us and wants us to have fellowship with Him, and 2) because He’s done it before. 
 
Israel tried to outsmart God.  They attempted to deceive their Creator and offer Him lip service while also worshipping other gods.  They tried to keep God’s favor and also enjoy the sinful pleasures the world had to offer.  They wanted the best of both worlds.  But it doesn’t work that way.  God does not tolerate double mindedness or double heartedness.  He saw right through their deception and confronted them on their semblance of worship.  And one of the areas God pinpointed was Israel’s total disregard and ignorance of His omniscience.  

“But they do not consider that I remember all their evil.
​Now their deeds surround them; they are before my face.”
~Hosea 7:2

​In the midst of their iniquity, Israel did not stop and think that God sees and remembers all things.  They did not consider the fact that nothing is hidden from their LORD’s gaze.  All things are seen and remembered into eternity.  So even though they attempted to offer a false confession, God saw right through it.  Even though they tried to cover up their sin with ritualistic sacrifices, God still knew and remembered.  Even though this wayward people did all that they could to keep up an appearance of obedience, God’s omniscience penetrated their weak façade and revealed all their evil.  All was laid bare and exposed to His all-knowing eye.
 
And just as God saw and remembered all the evil of Israel and eventually brought judgment upon it, so also God sees and remembers all our misdeeds.  Nothing we do or think is hidden from His knowledge and His memory is eternal.  Therefore, our sin against the holy, omniscient God is not something to take lightly.  For, once an act is done—whether good or evil—it is seen and remembered by the eternal God. 
 
There is only one thing that can blot out our transgressions from God’s infallible memory.  Not only will it remove our sin from God’s remembrance but it will also make it as though we never sinned.  That one thing is the blood of Jesus Christ.  It can cleanse us from the filth of our wrongdoing and totally erase it from God’s knowledge and memory.  It can make us as if we had never sinned against the holy, perfect God.  But in order for it to do it’s cleansing, we must first acknowledge our sin and need for washing.  We must confess that we have broken God’s covenant and sinned against the omniscient God.  And we must accept Christ’s blood and sacrifice that was freely offered for us.
 
If we do so, we can stand before God as one who has never sinned.  The One who sees and remembers all things will not see our sin and guilt, but only Christ’s blood and pardon. 
 
So have you accepted Christ’s free gift of redemption?  Have you acknowledged your wrongdoing and guilt before God?  Have you confessed your sin and asked for Christ’s cleansing?  Or are you like Israel who decided to play dumb and ignore the fact that God sees and remembers all things including their sin?
 
Who do you want to be:  guilty Israel whose evil surrounded and ignited God’s wrath or a redeemed and cleansed sinner whose transgressions are remembered no more?
 
I choose the second option, and I hope you do too.  In closing, while God does see and remember all things including our hidden or not-so-hidden sins, we have a Savior who is ready and waiting to pardon and redeem us by the power of His blood.  Therefore, let us humble ourselves, confess our sin, and accept Christ’s free gift of cleansing.  And let us remember and take hold of this promise found in 1 John 1:

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”