As of late, a lot of attention has been drawn to and by the multiple objects recently shot down by the United States military after having been observed floating over North America. While it is reasonable to conclude that their purposes in being there were nefarious, China, who is known to have launched at least two of them, nonetheless continues to claim that these orbiting platforms were merely there for scientific research.
Time will tell as their remains are even now being collected and studied. This much is for certain – it will be hard to deny the evidence that the U.S. and Canadian authorities are sure to retrieve from these devices once they are thoroughly analyzed. Once this happens, as it very likely will, methinks someone is then likely to have a lot of explaining to do!
Intrigued by this entire state of affairs, I became a little curious about just who all might be looking down upon me from up above, as well as to what extent they are able to do so. Imagine my surprise when I looked up my address on Google Earth and saw an overhead image of my own vehicle parked in my own driveway! (The only consolation is that this was the address I lived at before I retired and relocated. Doubtless, though, it will soon be re-photographed, and updated to reflect the new owners’ presence.)
Further intrigued, I then did a little more research on what may be considered “eyes in the sky”. To my amazement, I found out that, as of 04/30/2022, there were a total of 5,465 operational satellites known to be orbiting earth. Of these, the U.S.A. had 3,433, China had 541, Russia had 172, and all other countries combined had 1,319. Given that these facts are nearly a year old, the number is almost certainly higher by now.
Of the 3,433 satellites being operated by the U.S.A. at that time, 31 were Civil, 2,992 were Commercial, 172 were Government, and 237 were Military. One can only presume that the number of those operated by China and Russia, being communist and not capitalist countries, wound have been slanted much more toward military than commercial.
The point of all of this is that there are clearly a great many “eyes in the sky” looking down on me (and you) even as I write this. It is apparent these can see my property. One can only hope that their designers have not yet developed and employed the ability to see through the roof of my dwelling and/or outbuildings.
After all, I do try to practice a little modesty. What is more, while I do not necessarily have all that much to hide, I do appreciate a little personal privacy. As does my family; and, I am sure, as do you and your family also.
Still, there is one more set of eyes up above looking down on me that I dare not try to hide from. To begin with, it is futile to do so. And secondly, it is ultimately in my best interest to be seen by them. I am referring, of course, to the eyes of the Lord.
The Bible tells us much about these eyes. Proverbs 15:3 tells us that “The LORD is watching everywhere, keeping his eye on both the evil and the good.” More than just watching us, the Lord is scrutinizing us. Proverbs 5:21 says: “For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD examines all his paths.”
And why does the Lord do this? According to Scripture, He does this in order to hold us accountable. Psalm 11:4-6 says: “The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD'S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.” The word translated here as “try” comes from the Hebrew term “baw-khan'”. It comes from a root word meaning to examine the purity and/or adulteration of precious metals.
We live in a time of heightened awareness to the possibility (or should I say “probability”) of our being viewed and assessed by others from their vantage point high up above us. We might do well to be concerned about such things, as they could arguably be used to put us in a position of vulnerability.
But that other set of eyes – the ones belonging to our Heavenly Father – are not necessarily observing us with evil intent. In his First New Testament Letter (chapter 3, verse 12), the Apostle Peter tells us that “the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their prayer.”
In other words, it is ultimately a good thing for our Heavenly Father to be observing us from above. If we have embraced Christ, then we are His children. As such, He looks down upon us as a loving, caring, and compassionate Heavenly Father. For this reason, the Word of God assures us that we can call Him, not just “Pater”, or “Father”, but also “Abba”, best translated as “Daddy”. Indeed, He careth for His own!
Given all this, I echo the words of the hymn-writer of old who once said: “Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way! Search me and try me, Savior today!” Perhaps you should do so as well.
NEWS SOURCE:
https://www.foxnews.com/us/us-heightened-alert-increasing-scrutiny-airspace-downing-unidentified-object-lake-huron.
SATELITE TATISTICS SOURCE:
https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/satellite-database.
SCRIPTURE SOURCES:
https://biblehub.com/proverbs/15-3.htm;
https://biblehub.com/1_peter/3-12.htm;
https://biblehub.com/galatians/4-6.htm.
HEBREW EXEGESIS:
https://biblehub.com/text/psalms/11-4.htm;
https://biblehub.com/hebrew/yivchanu_974.htm;
https://biblehub.com/hebrew/974.htm.
HYMN SOURCE:
https://hymnary.org/text/have_thine_own_way_lord.
Time will tell as their remains are even now being collected and studied. This much is for certain – it will be hard to deny the evidence that the U.S. and Canadian authorities are sure to retrieve from these devices once they are thoroughly analyzed. Once this happens, as it very likely will, methinks someone is then likely to have a lot of explaining to do!
Intrigued by this entire state of affairs, I became a little curious about just who all might be looking down upon me from up above, as well as to what extent they are able to do so. Imagine my surprise when I looked up my address on Google Earth and saw an overhead image of my own vehicle parked in my own driveway! (The only consolation is that this was the address I lived at before I retired and relocated. Doubtless, though, it will soon be re-photographed, and updated to reflect the new owners’ presence.)
Further intrigued, I then did a little more research on what may be considered “eyes in the sky”. To my amazement, I found out that, as of 04/30/2022, there were a total of 5,465 operational satellites known to be orbiting earth. Of these, the U.S.A. had 3,433, China had 541, Russia had 172, and all other countries combined had 1,319. Given that these facts are nearly a year old, the number is almost certainly higher by now.
Of the 3,433 satellites being operated by the U.S.A. at that time, 31 were Civil, 2,992 were Commercial, 172 were Government, and 237 were Military. One can only presume that the number of those operated by China and Russia, being communist and not capitalist countries, wound have been slanted much more toward military than commercial.
The point of all of this is that there are clearly a great many “eyes in the sky” looking down on me (and you) even as I write this. It is apparent these can see my property. One can only hope that their designers have not yet developed and employed the ability to see through the roof of my dwelling and/or outbuildings.
After all, I do try to practice a little modesty. What is more, while I do not necessarily have all that much to hide, I do appreciate a little personal privacy. As does my family; and, I am sure, as do you and your family also.
Still, there is one more set of eyes up above looking down on me that I dare not try to hide from. To begin with, it is futile to do so. And secondly, it is ultimately in my best interest to be seen by them. I am referring, of course, to the eyes of the Lord.
The Bible tells us much about these eyes. Proverbs 15:3 tells us that “The LORD is watching everywhere, keeping his eye on both the evil and the good.” More than just watching us, the Lord is scrutinizing us. Proverbs 5:21 says: “For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD examines all his paths.”
And why does the Lord do this? According to Scripture, He does this in order to hold us accountable. Psalm 11:4-6 says: “The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD'S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.” The word translated here as “try” comes from the Hebrew term “baw-khan'”. It comes from a root word meaning to examine the purity and/or adulteration of precious metals.
We live in a time of heightened awareness to the possibility (or should I say “probability”) of our being viewed and assessed by others from their vantage point high up above us. We might do well to be concerned about such things, as they could arguably be used to put us in a position of vulnerability.
But that other set of eyes – the ones belonging to our Heavenly Father – are not necessarily observing us with evil intent. In his First New Testament Letter (chapter 3, verse 12), the Apostle Peter tells us that “the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their prayer.”
In other words, it is ultimately a good thing for our Heavenly Father to be observing us from above. If we have embraced Christ, then we are His children. As such, He looks down upon us as a loving, caring, and compassionate Heavenly Father. For this reason, the Word of God assures us that we can call Him, not just “Pater”, or “Father”, but also “Abba”, best translated as “Daddy”. Indeed, He careth for His own!
Given all this, I echo the words of the hymn-writer of old who once said: “Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way! Search me and try me, Savior today!” Perhaps you should do so as well.
NEWS SOURCE:
https://www.foxnews.com/us/us-heightened-alert-increasing-scrutiny-airspace-downing-unidentified-object-lake-huron.
SATELITE TATISTICS SOURCE:
https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/satellite-database.
SCRIPTURE SOURCES:
https://biblehub.com/proverbs/15-3.htm;
https://biblehub.com/1_peter/3-12.htm;
https://biblehub.com/galatians/4-6.htm.
HEBREW EXEGESIS:
https://biblehub.com/text/psalms/11-4.htm;
https://biblehub.com/hebrew/yivchanu_974.htm;
https://biblehub.com/hebrew/974.htm.
HYMN SOURCE:
https://hymnary.org/text/have_thine_own_way_lord.