When I was a kid, if we wanted to warn someone who was doing something mischievous, we would holler,”Be careful, big brother is watching.” “Big brother” might have been a teacher, or the aide on the bus or a nosy neighbor down the street. In today’s world, “A Bigger Brother” is indeed watching.

Cleverly called the “lawful intercept industry,” surveillance technology is most definitely on the rise. The Washington Post had an article recently that said, “Northern Virginia technology entrepreneur Jerry Lucas hosted his first trade show for makers of surveillance gear at the McLean Hilton in May 2002. Thirty -five people showed up.”

“Nine years later, Lucas holds five events annually across the world, drawing hundreds of vendors and thousands of potential buyers for an industry he estimates sell $5 billion of the latest tracking, monitoring and eavesdropping technology each year.”

And, WikiLeaks just launched another project. They are publishing files which detail a global industry that supports governmental surveillance. Those files reveal that there are about 160 companies in 25 countries supplying “snoops” with their information.

Of course, the WikiLeaks folks hope that this “dump” of information will highlight the need to control governments who have gone amuck with their “watching.”

But regardless of your view of how that information should be used, you have to admit that “Big Brother is STILL Watching” and He is doing a much better job of it!

An “eye in the sky” can be taken several ways. If you are doing something you shouldn’t, it is a reminder to clean up your act. In this same spirit, Moses warned the “Transjordan” tribes that in the event of an attack, they had an obligation to come to the rescue of the other tribes. He said in Numbers 32:23, “But if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the Lord and you may be sure that your sin will find you out.” The bottom line is: God is watching!

But the Lord is certainly watching in a positive, nurturing sense as well. In II Chronicles 16:9, the Bible says, “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.”

So, this week if the thought of someone checking up on you causes you to wince a bit, remember that the Lord is doing so as well. And His motive is to strengthen you. He is the big brother we all need!

By His Grace and for His Glory,
Sherry L. Worel