Paul preaching in Athens.
Preaching to the Athenians (Acts 17), Paul quoted their sages as saying of God, “In him we live and move and have our being.” The quote has been traced back to Aratus, an Athenian philosopher who lived nearly three centuries earlier and was echoed in Cleanthes’ “Hymn to Jupiter.” It goes without saying that since God is everywhere, nothing can be hidden from Him. Unfortunately, because He cloaks himself in invisibility, however much we know His oversight to be a fact, none of us live consistently as if we believe it. And yet the Lord sees everything.
Christ by his teaching and by his behavior affirmed this proverb. First, look at his teaching. He endorses the idea when he says, “your Father in Heaven, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you openly.” Jesus taught us to act on the principle of God’s oversight.
Second, look at Christ’s behavior. Jesus had limited his divine abilities in becoming a man; thus he often had to ask questions in order to elicit details. Nonetheless, he modeled this proverb. In the power of the Spirit, he described Nathanael’s actions under a fig tree and declared Lazarus’ death from a great distance. He knew of Peter’s exchange with the priests over the temple tax before Peter said a word.
At other times, Jesus kept his eyes open as any man might, marking both good and bad. Thus he noticed the good act of the widow dropping her two little coins into the temple treasury, and the childish behavior of the Pharisees who grabbed the highest seats at dinner–not to mention their many acts of hypocrisy. If Solomon had not penned this proverb, we could derive it from the behavior of Christ Jesus.