Verse of the Day Devotion: Psalm 11:4

“The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD’S throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.” – Psalm 11:4   

This verse is a picture of how God watches over us.  This is worded so we, being human and not having a full knowledge of God, can have a reasonable understanding.  This starts off saying that God is in His holy temple.  He is seated in the temple of His holiness, and His throne is in heaven. Isaiah gives us this image.  “Thus says the LORD, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is my footstool. Where then is a house, you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest?” Isaiah 66:1. His greatness is exhibited here in that heaven is His throne, the seat by which, as King, He holds His court, where He dispenses His commands and from where He oversees all His work.  Jesus reiterated this thought.  “But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING.”  Matthew 5:34-35.  Another verse that truly exemplifies how great God is.  “But will God indeed dwell with mankind on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You; how much less this house which I have built.”  2 Chronicles 6:18. He fills the known universe and the high heavens.  There is no place anywhere that He is not.

Proceeding to the second part of our focus verse, we see His eyes see everything within His vast empire, which is everything He has created, and also outside of this created universe.  He see all of our needs and all our desires.   God watches over everything; all we do, all we see, all we experience and all the dangers that may be near us. One thought here is that He is protecting us from whatever the enemy may do.  He is keeping us safe from whatever comes against us.  He knows what the enemy is planning long before he himself knew, for He does know the end from the beginning.  The theologian John Gill puts it this way.  “Knowing all this, we may be assured that he will interpose when it is best that he should interpose, and that he will suffer nothing to come upon us which it is not best that he should permit. When evil befalls us, therefore, it does not come because God does not know it, or because he could not prevent it, but because, seeing it all, he judges that it is best that it should thus occur.”  John Gill from his commentary on the Psalms.

And lastly, His eyelids test the sons of men.  In other words, He searches all men’s hearts, into the very depths of our beings, and knows our thoughts, intentions and designs, our wishes and desires.  He knows our emotional state and all that either brings us joy and peace, or sorrow and frustration.  There is nothing we can do to hide anything from Him.  And what does this tell us?  We can trust Him completely in everything.  We are safe in placing ourselves in His care.  In the next verse, the writer of this psalm adds, “The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked, And the one who loves violence His soul hates.”  What is intended here is that He hates the ways of this person and takes account of it.  This we cannot hide either.  He knows if our heart is filled with love or hatred, goodness or wickedness.  There is nothing He does not know about us.

In closing, I want to emphasize the idea that we are safe with Him.  We may not like what He allows us to experience, however, we must trust Him because He would never allow us to endure anything that was not going to have a good result.  “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28. This is one of my favorite verses in the scriptures.

Take comfort in this focus verse.  It tells us that He fills all the heavens, in fact, the heavens are His throne, and He watches over us, not just in what we do, but the why’s and the how’s.  We can be content in knowing that we are safe and that nothing surprises Him.  And nothing can happen to us that He does not allow because of His great love.  Remember this during times of trial; it will help to brings us through.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries, Inc.