Proverbs 20:12 Commentary and Bible Study

The next deceitful influence that Solomon deals with is the tendency to forget that God sees all, that we are never out of his sight, that we can keep no secrets from him. This is taught by implication from the fact that God made both the ear and the eye, and as Scripture reasons, ‘He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?’ (Psalm 94:1). The Creator is self-evidently greater than his creation, for no agent can create what is greater than himself, else he would use that power to re-create himself. If God makes seeing creatures, how much more does he see, and indeed the Bible teaches that he sees all and knows all, past, present and future. But if God sees all, then our own ability to see should remind us that we can hide nothing from him. The tendency of the human mind to limit God is something sinful men and women do out of deviousness, to assist them in their rebellion against God. Since he has put a conscience in each one of us and since we dislike having it remind us of our sinfulness, we try to suppress it, but this is hard when we know that behind conscience is the eye of God, so that conscience is merely a witness to the fact that God sees us. To diminish conscience we therefore fool ourselves into thinking that God is blind, or, at least, that he sees no more than our fellow human beings see. Since we are able to successfully hide much from other people, we like to believe that we can also hide much from God. But God’s sight is not limited like the sight of men and women. Man looks on the outward appearance but God looks on the heart. Man sees only a tiny fraction of what exists, but God sees all, and he controls all, and guides all according to his perfect plan formed before the creation of the world. By contrast to the worldling, the Christian wants to strengthen conscience and live in a way that is pleasing to God, and therefore he often reminds himself that God sees all. God’s people choose to come into the light, knowing that they are ‘children of the day’ and ‘not of the night, nor of darkness (1 Thessalonians 5:5). We wish to draw near to God in fellowship, but how can we draw near to him as his children, and at the same time try to sin behind his back?