Ever look at something really closely? Not just glance at it . . . not just observe it . . . but lean in and really try and make out the detail? What do your eyes do? . . . more specifically what do your eyelids do? The brow kind of furls . . . and then the eyelids kind of press closer together . . . don’t they? Whether we want to better make out something in the distance or want to examine something up close we employ our eyelids . . . we kind of squint when we want to become intimate with the details of something that’s caught our attention . . . that’s peaked our curiosity . . . that’s become an object we want to understand. God too!

“The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD’s throne is in heaven; His eyes see, His eyelids test, the children of man.” (Psalm 11:4)

Observation: God has eyelids. Most of the translations  I checked out, even the Message, speak of God’s eyelids. Now I know that God doesn’t actually have eyelids (I think) for God is spirit (John 4:24). But what I also know is that God is often spoken of in terms of human attributes so that we might know something of a God who is beyond human comprehension . . . that we might have a touch point anchored to how we’re wired in order to understand how God’s wired. And that God has eyes to see is not news to me this morning . . . but that He has eyelids to test . . . now that’s caused me to pause and reflect.

The word “eyelid” is only used 9 times in Scripture . . . but this is the only time it is used in reference to God. And check out the “big and small” of this statement about God. The “big” is that He dwells in His holy temple and that His throne is in heaven. High and lifted up . . . apart from men . . . so far above the earth . . . in a place with a vantage point that overlooks and sees all creation as well as the heavenly realm. Talk about your panoramic view . . . your wide angle lens . . . your big picture. God sits above it all and takes it all in . . . “His eyes see.”

But then . . . zoom in . . . switch from wide angle to telephoto . . . from viewing myriads of galaxies to focusing on one . . . from considering who knows how many solar systems to taking a closer look at but one . . . from looking past all the planets and stars to fixing His gaze on the third planet from the sun . . . from observing the ebb and flow of billions of people to singling out just one . . . from seeing not only what that individual is doing, but what what they’re thinking as well. “His eyelids test the children of men.”

My handy dandy online Hebrew dictionary indicates that, while God’s eyes see, that His eyelids “examine, try, prove, or scrutinize.” He leans in, as it were. He squints in order to see the fine detail . . . perhaps closes one eye as the other peers through the microscope trained on our thoughts, attitudes, and motives. Yeah . . . God sees everything as in the big picture . . . but I’m reminded He sees everything as in “everything” . . . even those things I perhaps prefer no one really see or notice.

And while there’s any number of applications to this observation about God having eyelids . . . right now, I’m simply in awe. And my little mind tries to take in that while God’s glory fills the holy temple of His dwelling . . . and that while He sits as majestic Sovereign on the throne which is the center piece of heaven . . . that He also, from that high and holy and lofty place where He sees it all . . . He also sees me . . . really, really sees me . . . through and through. “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it” (Ps. 139:6). Said a little differently, “Wow!”

It’s a little unsettling, perhaps. But then I’m reminded that, while the Shepherd knows His sheep . . . intimately, . . . with all that He knows, He still chose to give His life for the sheep . . . and then give them eyelids too, that they might know Him (John 10:11, 14). Oh, that I would lean in . . . furl my brow . . . press together my eyelids . . . and seek, by His grace and through His Spirit, to know Him better who knows me oh so well. Amen?