SOMEBODY’S WATCHING ME ~ A Study in Jeremiah

 

Kennedy William Gordy, 19-year old son of Berry Gordy, hid behind the name Rockwell when he released the hit song by this same name. It is an interesting story behind the song that became known as an international and enduring smash hit that, more than 30 years later, remains the perennial paranoia-rock anthem and Halloween mix go-to song. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/how-somebodys-watching-me-singer-rockwell-created-a-paranoid-pop-classic-125907/

 

What came along with the investigation into my husband’s business was the paranoia that our family was being watched, listened to, eavesdropped upon, and monitored in every private conversation and daily transaction. Turns out we were right to feel that way. At trial, my son and I were embarrassed that prosecutors would display Sam’s Club receipts on huge public displays for the jury to review. Then there was the picture of me standing in line at Wal-Mart waiting to check out. Feminine hygiene products and cheese seemed to be the major focus??? I assume it was to prove that we bought a lot of groceries??? Nevertheless, it was never brought to the jury’s attention that we shopped at Sam’s Club once a month for our main order and went to Wal-Mart maybe once or twice a month to supplement our groceries for the month. Were we right to feel this way or were we just being paranoid?

 

I worked in the mail room at a university for three years since being released from prison. One day my boss had ordered and received a pair of tennis shoes. The company had forgotten to cut off the security tag, so we were attempting to do that without damaging the shoes. Our phones were laying right beside us. We never mentioned the name of the shoes, but I did mention I liked the color and that I might order a pair as well. As soon as we accomplished our task successfully I checked my phone. Not five minutes later ads started popping up for this exact pair of shoes! In the past, we had talked about the possibility of our phones listening to us, but this was a confirmation that could not be denied.

 

People joke about not having a Siri, a Google, or Alexis in their homes because they do not want to have the ‘government’ spying on them, yet most people carry cell phones. And that is not to mention all the other ways we are being watched. We must stop to ask ourselves why we are being watched and by whom? What is the motive? If it were simply an advertising tool, I think most of us could live with that. For the Christian, we do not get carried away by these thoughts, because we know Who is watching those who are watching us! The bigger issue today is that we are not only being watched, listened to, and monitored, we are being silenced and censored—the next natural step for the enemy to take.

 

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself, perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 5:8-11)

 

“In general, there are two known methods that lions employ to hunt their prey. The first one is by stalking them. You have probably seen this behavior if you have a pet cat or watched an animal documentary on television. This is the primary way that they hunt, which is to stay hidden for as long as possible while they approach their prey. This is another advantage that the Lioness has over the male, in that their bodies are slimmer, allowing them to stay hidden in the grass longer. Lionesses also work together when they hunt by surrounding their prey as they stay hidden. Eventually, though, the prey will notice or hear the approaching lion, in which it will become a chase for them both. Once the lion catches up to the prey, they use their powerful claws to maul at their prey and crush their necks, leaving them paralyzed to be taken back to the lion’s home.”

 

“The other way that lions hunt is a little more straightforward. This is when the male lion also joins the hunt together with the lionesses. For the second method, there is no hiding or stalking involved, they go for the big prey and then corner it strategically. Once the prey is cornered, the lion comes in face to face to fight with the animal. In this scenario, the weight, brute strength, and bravery of the lion is what will determine the outcome of the hunt.” 

https://www.balisafarimarinepark.com/how-lions-hunt-their-prey/#:~:text=The%20first%20one%20is%20by,while%20they%20approach%20their%20prey.

 

Queue the music from ‘Jaws’, the “iconic theme music that became sonic cultural shorthand to signal danger or menace. Two notes and you are feeling on edge,” (from an April 27, 2020 article entitled ’45 years on, the ‘Jaws’ theme manipulates our emotions to inspire terror’.) https://theconversation.com/45-years-on-the-jaws-theme-manipulates-our-emotions-to-inspire-terror-136462#:~:text=Since%20the%20movie%20release%2045,you're%20feeling%20on%20edge.

Judah’s enemy is closing in on her. There is no time for delay. “For a voice declares from Dan and proclaims wickedness from Mount Ephraim. Report it to the nations, now! Proclaim over Jerusalem, ‘Besiegers come from a far country, and lift their voices against the cities of Judah. Like watchmen of a field they are against her round about because she has rebelled against Me,’” declares the LORD. “Your ways and your deeds have brought these things to you. This is your evil. How bitter! How it has touched your heart!” (Jeremiah 4:15-18)

The voice of a messenger was coming from Dan, the northern frontier of Palestine (Deuteronomy 34:1). The message? The Chaldean enemy is on the move. Da, da, da, da…A voice then comes from Mount Ephraim which borders closely on Judah. Da, da, da, da, da, da…The enemy is getting closer and closer. He is moving rapidly across the landscape. Why Dan and Ephraim? 1 Kings 12:28-30—So the king consulted, and made two golden calves, and he said to them, “It is too much for you to go to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt.” He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. The people who heard this message would have no doubts as to its references to these two places. Jeroboam had set up idolatrous calves in Dan and Bethel in Ephraim, so it is just retribution that the enemy is coming from this direction. These besiegers are coming from a far country, but they are not far away now. In fact, they are so close that the people should be able to hear their war cry. But Judah had her fingers in her ears listening only for the words, ‘Peace, peace, and safety are yours.’ God had been a watchman to Israel. Jeremiah was a voice of one of the watchmen God had set over Israel to guard her. Jeremiah 6:17—“And I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’” There would come a day when things would be different…but not in Jeremiah’s day. Jeremiah 31:6—“For there will be a day when watchmen on the hills of Ephraim call out, ‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to the LORD our God.”

The watchmen of a field spoken about in Jeremiah 4 is the enemy who is stalking its prey, and God’s chosen enemy had surrounded His wife to bring judgment upon her. The watchmen speaks of military watchers, Chaldean soldiers. They were carefully watching that none would escape. Why? Because she has rebelled against the Lord. Therefore, God summons the foreign nations to witness the judgment coming on God’s own people. Jeremiah 6:18-19—“Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their plans, because they have not listened to My words, and as for My law, they have rejected it also.” Israel had no desire to witness to the nations showing forth His glory, so He would use them as an example to show forth His glory in judgment. She brought judgment on herself. God is angry with His people, and it is really He who has come against His own. Just like all those who are not His own, He uses them for His purposes. But in the end, they will get their just deserts.

How ruthless was this enemy? 2 Kings 25:1-7—Now in the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, camped against it and built a siege wall all around it. So, the city was under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. Then the city was broken into, and all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls beside the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. And they went by way of the Arabah. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho and all his army was scattered form him. Then they captured the king and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah and passed sentence on him. They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, then put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon. Because she would not heed her Lord, He would deliver her over to the cruel king and lord over Babylon.

Not unlike the church today, Judah was going through the duties of religion, yet her heart was far from Him. The Lord wanted obedience from the heart from His wife. Samuel speaking to Saul said this: “Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king.” (1 Samuel 15:22-23)

The wages of sin is death. The fruit of rebellion and wickedness is bitter judgment. Therefore, people only professing to follow Christ who go through trials often end up bitter. Hell will be full of bitter people. Whose watching you? Is the enemy of your soul watching you, stalking you, his prey, waiting to devour you? Or is the Lord who is watching your enemy watching over you to protect and keep you from all harm? Psalm 121:5-8—The LORD watches over you—the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all harm—He will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. However you may answer, be sure that somebody is watching YOU!