God Is Watching

Transcript

Hello, my friend… so glad you're with me today. This is By God's Call — day 240, God Is Watching.

"Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the LORD." Jeremiah 7:11.

This verse is part of a sermon God sends Jeremiah to preach right at the temple gate — the most sacred, most visited, most respected place in the whole nation. And the message is not comfort. It's confrontation.

The people would go to the temple, offer sacrifices, follow the rituals, say all the right words — and at the same time live in injustice, oppress the poor, lie, practice evil, and then run right back to the temple as if to say, "here I'm safe, here nothing can touch me." That exact mixture is what God confronts.

"This house, which is called by my name." Notice this: God's name was over that place. But God makes clear that the name over the door does not automatically sanctify what happens inside. You can have the right name, the right language, the right appearance — and still be far from God's heart.

And then comes the question that cuts deep: "has it become a den of robbers in your eyes?" Think about the image. A den isn't where the robber commits the crime — it's where he flees afterward, where he feels safe, protected, untouchable. The people were treating the temple that way. They practiced injustice out there, then came inside the temple as if hiding behind a religious facade, thinking the rituals shielded them from consequences.

But God says, "I myself have seen it." This is not a God fooled by appearances. He sees past the ritual, past the religious language, past attendance at worship. Nothing escapes His eyes.

And here is something that strikes me deeply: centuries later, Jesus enters the temple, overturns the tables of the money changers, and quotes this very line from Jeremiah: "you have made it a den of robbers." The problem didn't fade with time. The temptation to use religion as a hideout, instead of letting it truly transform the heart, spans generations. It spans ours too.

So I want to ask you, gently and without accusation: is there an area of your life where you've used religious practice — prayer, church, rituals — as a hideout, instead of letting it actually change your heart? This isn't a question meant to condemn you. It's a question meant to free you, because God already sees it either way — and He wants to meet you for real, not a facade.

Today, I invite you to bring this question into prayer. Ask God, honestly, whether there's any inconsistency between what you practice and what you live — and ask for the courage to bring the two into alignment.

Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.