God watches over us
God’s work in our lives has pleasant and unpleasant effects. Because he wants the very best for us, the scriptures teach us that he is watching over us. The Bible tells us that the eye of the Lord sees the good and the bad (Pro 15:3). God is very interested in how our lives turn out, so he is constantly watching and adjusting his plan and purpose to benefit us (Ps 32:8). We have a proactive God who has set his plan according to what Jeremiah 29 says “11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jer29:11). As he watches over us he listens to our prayers with the intent to complete his good purpose in us (1Pt3:12). As he watches over us we have to ask ourselves, what does God see? The spectrum of what God sees in us goes from really bad, to not so bad, to some good, to good. But the scriptures tell us that we have all sinned and have come short of the glory of God.
Jeremiah 31:27-30
27 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.
28 And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the Lord.
29 In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.
30 But everyone shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.
So, the intent of God when he watches over us is to first pluck up, to break down, to throw down, and then to destroy, and to afflict. Job says that God with one hand makes us sore and with the other heals (Job 5:18). Now God is not like Satan, when he plucks things from our lives he replaces them to build us. When Satan takes things from us he leaves us in a wanting stage. The scriptures tell us that the enemy came to kill, steal, and destroy (Jh10:10). He doesn’t replenish what he takes from us with something good. And those things that God plucks up from our lives are those things that harm us and are of no benefit to us. The things that we do that are bad are induced by risky decisions, and they are considered sour grapes. In a study on the effect of sour taste, results showed that people who ate sour foods were more risk takers than those who did not. Taste is a dedicated warning system that helps people make important decisions under risk.
The prophet tells us that the risky decisions we make to engage in sin, with the new covenant made by God, will not affect our children. Each person will be responsible for the effects of their own decisions. Eating the sour grapes knowing the consequences that are not favorable with God is a decision his people should not make. But eating the sour grapes that according to his will, we should all indulge in.
Proverbs 15:3
The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.
Psalms 32:8
I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
1 Peter 3:12
For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
Job 5:18
For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole.
John 10:10
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.