Does God See the Physical or Only our Hearts?
I have been praying and studying about a biblical understanding over the past few years and thought I’d share it with you folks to see what you think.  I know it’s sort of out there – but it has proven the test of time in my life and helps me make sense of some other issues and biblical references that have always been a bit confusing. However, I am not offering this as a “thus sayeth the Lord.”
 
I realize people have differing views on the interpretation of  Col 3:16:  “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.”   This is not an writing about music, but pondering this verse a few years ago, as I was preparing a study for my boys on worship, gave me cause to wonder what it was truly talking about.  After a time, something different clicked in it for me.  I saw Paul saying “Use your voices for each other.  Use your heart to sing to God.”  However, that little realization led me into a deeper understanding - and wondering.
 
Jesus talked about how his coming had changed things – and changed how God viewed man. Before Jesus, it was wrong to murder, but now hatred in your heart was seen by God as murder.  It was wrong to commit adultery – now committing in your heart was viewed the same.  Hmmmm.  I began to see that these ideas were connected to the singing I mentioned above.  God views the heart in all matters – the physical is for humanity - good or bad it's the manifestation given for the people around us.
 
Then I remembered the verses when God said, “Let us go down. . . “  such as in Genesis below. Also, in Job - God asked Satan what he had been up to - which appears to mean he did not know.  Satan had been walking on the earth.   I had never understood what that meant before.  Why did God need to “go down” anywhere to see what was going on?  Didn’t he always have a bird’s eye view of the world?

    Gen 11:7     Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
   Job 1:6-7     Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.
The LORD said to Satan, "From where do you come?" Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it."
 
Well, all this twirled in my head and a new understanding emerged of how and what God see us on earth.  God made the physical world for those of us who inhabit it.  He has no use for it - and isn't actually part of *it* at all. He is spirit.  What he ‘sees’ of us is that which is ‘made in His image’ – our spirits. What we purpose in our spirits is what God knows.  I believe the physical repercussion of our purposing is for humanity – the good deeds that comes from our good intents and the evil deeds and pain that comes from our bad intents.  When we decide (purpose or plan) to help someone – that decision in our hearts is what God sees. The person we have chosen to help is physically blessed by our action, but that physical action is not  necessary for God to ‘see.’ It is like the singing verse above.  Our physical voices (and actions) are given for the edification (or detriment) of each other – but our hearts are solely for God. If something happens and we are not able to follow through on our plan to help – God never knows that. (Not that He CAN'T know it - he can of course know/do/be ALL - but it is not his sphere of being) He sees our hearts focused on good. 

Also, if we plot and plan and purpose to do evil to someone, maybe to get back at them for a wrong they did against us – if we hate them – to God we have already murdered them.  If we never follow through on the act – that doesn’t matter to God.  Seeing that desire in our hearts was the "deed" he saw.  However it does matter greatly on earth to the guy we were mad at! :)  Say we spend the night dwelling on hatred for someone at work - and plan to reciprocate the next day ...  but the person was absent from work and our plan was not carried out... well, that doesn't matter to God.  He didn't even see the plan nor the outcome - he knew we hated. God doesn’t need to know the outcome. God’s interest is only in the purposing of our heart. I believe the only way God ‘sees’ the physical repercussions of our hearts is when he chooses to “go down” into physical time and place.
 
If we purpose to help someone - say someone who is on the street - and we go to get them some cash from the ATM machine - God knows our heart change - and he has seen all he needs to.  Now, if we return to the corner where we saw the person waiting - but they are gone ... Well, we weren't able to follow through on our 'good deed.'  But as far as God is concerned - we did the good deed - we purposed in our heart to do it.
 
God gives us our physical voices to encourage each other.  When we sing as a group - or even a solo - the person who is listening hears our words and song and is blessed.  However, they have no idea where our hearts are - and it really doesn't matter.  We could be day dreaming about what we are going to do later that day - or we might we simply concentrating on getting the notes and words right.  It doesn't make a hill of beans to those listening. They are encouraged by the words and music. However, I think Colossians tells us that God doesn't hear those physical voices - he doesn't need to. He hears our hearts as they approach him and focus on Him *through* the song - or as we are led to worship him because of the song we are singing.
 
This view has a good side and a bad side.  Lots of folks think they are worshipping in song because their voices blend so beautifully – or they’ve gotten all the words just right - but they didn't ever actually approach God as they sing.  I don't believe God even heard the music nor the words – but He, as Spirit, feels when our spirit seeks to connect with his through our searching, awed, worshipful hearts.
 
This brings together all the instances where we are told the quality or amount of the physical manifestations of our worship and lives don’t matter to God.  For example, the amount of $$ given is unimportant (such as with the widow and her mite) and the quality of our singing voices are not what God is after.  What is important in all these things is the why behind the deed.  The widow chose to give all – even though physically it could be viewed as totally unimportant, due to the miniscule amount – but spiritually it was millions.  Someone tone deaf whose spirit is caught up in the Lord is truly worshipping Him in comparison to a world renown singer who is moving millions with his voice as he sings but who is thinking about how tight his shoes are and how he has sung this song one too many times.
 
I am not sure I have conveyed what this idea means to me – but it is scary and exciting at the same time.  This really throws a kink into any of the ‘going through the motions’ that makes up so much of the religious practices of weekly worship and worship orders. It was a total mind change of what my relationship with God was based on.  I am still working through it all and would love your input and ideas.

One more thing - of course I realize that God sees the sparrow that falls.  God's natural world is in Him - it is connected to Him. Allow we can't fully understand how the natural world praises Him - it does simply by being who/what He created it for. A nice lesson for us, I'm sure.  However, nature does praise Him, but that does take away from this viewpoint I am wondering about, and  I believe it further explains my wonderings - that God is connected to all his creation - not by physical sight - but by HIM  - the part he has given each of us as his children and creation.
 
Alice
 PS - a few verses and further thoughts:

 "For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. 2Chronicles 16:9

Ps - a few verses:
Deeds certainly matter with God. But not primarily. God may look at what we classify as a very good deed, yet pronounce the person who did it unrighteous, and reject the good deed because his heart is wrong, (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

Many people appear to do much that is good and righteous, yet Jesus said inside they are unclean, rotten, corrupt and full of dead bones, and condemns them because they are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness, (Matthew 23:27,28)

If you are covered with the blood of Jesus and your heart's desire is to love God and please Him, then when you sin, God does not break fellowship with you. In such instances God's mercy triumph's over judgment, (James 2:13).

Judge not according to appearance but judge righteous judgment, (John 7:24). Righteous judgment begins with the heart rather than the actions. Even though the human heart is so deceitful and sick that we cannot truly understand our own hearts, yet God understands our hearts and He searches our hearts and tests our minds, to give to each man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds, (Jeremiah 17:9,10). God clearly rewards man with either good or bad fruit of his deeds, according to what God sees in the heart. When God tests the righteous He does so by seeing the mind and the heart, (Jeremiah 20:12).

The mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart, (Matthew 12:34). Are you a good man or an evil man, (Matthew 12:35)? True spiritual character is identified by the fruit it produces. What do you produce? Examine a healthy, productive fruit tree and you will find a few malformed, diseased fruits. But in spite of that one would say, this tree is good. It produces good fruit.
 

Alice/2006