Drones: God Is Looking

Many people are worried about a growing and unwanted intrusion into their privacy. People have sued Google to remove photos of their property. Many worry about how pictures taken by Google Glass can invade their privacy. Others worry about how much private information can be found on the internet. There are the drones that can photograph outdoor events below and can also use rockets to kill. Information that we may place on Facebook pages can be used to steal our identities or money from a bank.
We live in an Information Age, with access to a mountain of words and photos on almost any subject. But many are concerned about who receives the information and how they can use it to destroy lives and reputations or to steal money.
We should be concerned about access to information that can destroy our reputation or our identity online. God has forbidden anyone from “bearing false witness against his neighbor,” which would include internet trolling, stealing identities, and stealing passwords.
But how would we feel if there was someone who knew everything about us? Someone who knew our darkest secrets, who remembered our hidden sins, who could look into our most vile thoughts? No, it’s not our mother or social websites on the internet. God Himself knows our every thought, word, and deed. David wrote, “For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether” (Psalm 139:4). In another place, “There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13).
If we could read the thoughts of others, it would become an intolerable burden. The mind is a cesspool of evil, as Jesus says, “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matthew 15:19). How can God deal with knowing all the wickedness and evil thoughts of all people on earth? And being aware of all this filth and corruption, why does God not destroy us all? He would not need any drones to do it.
Only once did God remove all but a few of the human race from the earth. In the days of Noah, “The Lord was very sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, ‘I will destroy man whom I created from the face of the earth, both man and beast’” (Genesis 6:6-7). The humans alive at the time mocked Noah for building the ark—until God sent rain on the earth to flood and destroy everything except what was on the ark.
Then God promised never to destroy the earth with a flood. Though God knew that “the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21), God promised to send His Son to be a savior. This Son would deliver mankind from the eternal punishment of sin by taking all sins upon Himself and suffering death on the cross to pay the penalty for sin.
In spite of everything God knows about how wicked we are, God had mercy upon us, gave us His Holy Spirit to create faith in our hearts through Baptism and the Word, enlightened our hearts as we studied His Word of truth, and kept us in the true faith through His Word and Sacraments.
Therefore, with Jeremiah, we should say with astonishment, “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not” (Lamentations 3:22). “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities” (Psalm 103:10). For “with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is abundant redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities” (Psalm 130:7–8). The redemption God required meant that the Messiah “was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of My people He was stricken” (Isaiah 53:8). Because of the Messiah’s work of salvation, David writes, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity” (Psalm 32:1-2).
All of these passages that clearly teach about the wonderful mercy and forgiveness of God are from the Old Testament. When Jesus rose from the dead, He “opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures” about all the things that Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms said about Jesus and His work of salvation (Luke 24:44-45).
The Bible also says, “The Lord knows those who are His” (2 Timothy 2:19). God does not need drones to spy on His people. He does not need the internet to get our address or telephone number. Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). The Bible also states, “The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment” (2 Peter 2:9).
Theodore Gullixson is pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Madison, Wisconsin.