Daily Manna · Day 86 · March 27
Eyes on You
“Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;”
Most of us keep a private list of things we count on to keep us safe: money in the bank, the right people to call, our own strength. Psalm 33 has a list like that too, and it is longer than most of ours.
The psalm says that "The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect." A few verses later it goes on: "There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength. An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength." Read that the way people in the ancient world would have heard it. The plans of the nations, the schemes of the people, a large army, a strong man's own strength, and the war horse, which was the most costly and powerful weapon on the battlefield. That makes five things people trusted, and the psalm sets each one aside in turn. It does this without sneering. It simply says that none of them can rescue.
Then verse 18 begins with "Behold," as if the psalm were turning your head to look: "the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy." The next verse finishes the thought: "To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine." Everything on the earlier list was tested to see whether it could rescue, and only this one can.
Notice who God is watching over. They are not people with an impressive record. They are "them that fear him," people who take Him seriously enough to let Him shape their week. And they are "them that hope in his mercy," people who have stopped offering their own record as their defence and are counting on His kindness.
So the offer is still open, and nothing about it is rushed. There is one thing on the list that has never failed, and there is room for you to lean on it. You would have to stop leaning on the other five. That is the only real cost, and most people find it harder than they expect. But the eye of the LORD is already on you, and His mercy is enough to rest your whole weight on.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 86 is What Paul Asked For (2 Thessalonians 1:11).