You See Me When I’m Sleeping…

I am sure that all of you remember that Christmas song that talks about how you had better behave because Santa knows when you are sleeping and he knows when you are awake, he knows when you have been bad or good, etc.  The words are used as an attempt to coerce children to behave better so that they can be rewarded with lots of goodies from Santa.  

After I became a Christian, I grew increasingly uncomfortable with the out-of-control commercial celebration of Christmas and the words of that song seemed to generate this image of Santa as an all-knowing being.    A pitiful substitute for the true all-knowing Being that the holiday is supposed to be celebrating.

David declares in Psalm 139:1-4 (ERV):  “Lord, you have tested me, so you know all about me.  You know when I sit down and when I get up.  You know my thoughts from far away.  You know where I go and where I lie down.  You know everything I do.  Lord, you know what I want to say, even before the words leave my mouth.”

The words of that Christmas song are there for one short celebration once a year and are quite literally lying words fed to our children about a fictitious character.  We really should be ashamed.

The words I quoted above from Psalm 139 are words that we should consider every day of every year of our lives.  We need to be aware of how much our Lord loves us – of how protective He is of us.  We also need to be aware of how much He knows about us.  Do we live our lives in such a way that He is pleased with us – our thoughts, our words, our actions?  Or, do we disappoint Him?   

Knowing how very intimately He knows us, it should be a catalyst for us to live a better life.  After all, He gave up His life with the heavenly Father to come to earth and live in a human body, to be used, abused, tortured and killed on our behalf.  His sacrifice assures us a place in heaven if we chose to believe and accept Him as our Savior.  That should be enough to cause us to want to live a life that is pleasing to Him.

I know that as a human with a naturally sinful nature, I need to always be on guard.  I also know that no matter how badly I want to live a life that reflects Jesus’ nature, I fail miserably more often than I want.  Each day in my prayer time these are some of the things that I ask:

“Lord, I thank you that I have eyes to see, ears to hear, a mind to understand and a heart to believe.  Please let those things work together to help me be who You made me to be and what You made me to be.”  Then based on 1 Corinthians 2:16 I pray this:  “Lord, I want to have the mind of Christ and all the Godly wisdom that offers to me.  I disavow my own wisdom and lean on God’s wisdom for all decisions I need to make today.” *  I also pray – “Lord, please help me to be always aware of every thought I have, every word I speak and every action I take.  I want to reflect You in my life.”

When we consider that God knows all about us – our thoughts, when we sit and when we get up, where we go, when we lie down, what we say, everything that we do – it should make us want to do our best.  When we fail, it would be easy to get discouraged.  However, we need to remember that there is no way that we can ever be perfect as long as we are on this earth – but we are not walking on this journey called life alone.  Joshua 1:9 (CEV) tells us:  “I’ve commanded you to be strong and brave. Don’t ever be afraid or discouraged! I am the Lord your God, and I will be there to help you wherever you go.”  There is no stipulation for perfection in that verse.

If we are only willing, then He provides the help we need.  Psalm 32:8 (AMP):  “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you [who are willing to learn] with My eye upon you.”  [Emphasis mine] 

This quote from St. Augustine is an great reminder of how important each of us are to God: “God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.”

So, to wrap up my somewhat disjointed ramblings for today, I just believe that we need to remember all we think, say and do is being monitored – but by One that loves us beyond our comprehension.  We need only to attempt to live our best life before Him, confessing what we do wrong and then moving on to do better – He will not withhold His “gifts” from us.

Written by Karran Martin – May 21, 2022

* (FYI – this thought is not original to me, I believe it came from one of my devotional books written by Chris Tiegreen.)