The Seven Eyes of the Lord
Who dares despise the days of small things, since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen Capstone. Zechariah 4:10
The nation of Judah had returned from their exile in Babylon under their new Governor, Zerubbabel (meaning “out of Babylon”). They were working towards rebuilding their city amidst lots of opposition and strain and, of course, needed all the encouragement they could get. The words of the Lord at this time came through Prophet Zechariah and a pivotal part of this prophecy is Zechariah’s mention of the seven eyes of God. This pops up in other places in the Scriptures, making us wonder, ‘What are the seven eyes of God?’ Let’s dive in.
What Are The Seven Eyes of God And What Do They Do?
Zechariah 3:9 says, “See the stone I have set in front of Joshua. There are seven eyes on that one stone and I will engrave an inscription on it”. The foundational stone had seven eyes on it and in the next chapter, we see the seven eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth. In Revelation 5:6, we see a more explicit description of the eyes: “Then I saw a Lamb looking as if it had been slain standing at the center of the throne encircled by the living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. So very much like Zechariah, John calls them the seven eyes of the Lord.
Isaiah 11:2 lists out these seven Spirits: And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. Interestingly, 2 Chronicles 16:9 says the eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. It can be surmised that these eyes of the Lord are the Spirits of God and He says that they will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone in the hands of Zerubbabel.
So, what is their job? To go throughout the earth and see those whose hearts are right and empower them. So, the Spirits of God saw and approved Zerubbabel. That should make us know that at every point, we are being approved one way or the other. Eyes are watching us and I think that’s quite serious and worthy of attention. He asked the question, “Who dares despise the day of small beginnings – or small things – since their eyes will rejoice when they see it?” What is it that will make God rejoice when He looks at you when the eyes run through the earth and land on you? Picture them going around like some satellite, and every once in a while, they move and stop and do that repeatedly. If they move and stop over you, what do they say about you? Are you approved, now or later?
Don’t Stop at Little Beginnings
Now the Lord does not mind small beginnings. A little approval rating of 1/10 is something; then as it moves to 2/10, it increases. God does not despise that beginning, even though they are small beginnings. But I suspect He despises a beginning that is an end in itself. Your beginning better be a beginning. Don’t stay in the same place. How does Ecclesiastes say it? “The end is better than the beginning.” Ecclesiastes 7:8 The Lord is the Alpha and the Omega.
Everybody is happy with the baby, whether it’s babbling or pooping. That’s the small beginning. But when time passes and that continues, the reaction becomes, “What’s this? Who did this? At your age?” Because this is no more a beginning, it’s the day of middle things. It’s not the day of final things, however, but a day of progress; so progress is expected. And remember, the seven eyes/spirits of God are constantly running through the earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those who are fully committed to Him.
People like saying that they have tried when they keep failing at something. But the real issue is, do the Spirits of the Lord never see you? They should see us and strengthen us. However, if you are not being strengthened, it means you have not been seen by them. And if you have not been seen, likely, your heart is not fully committed to Him.
In Search of Commitment
2 Chronicles 16:9 says the eyes of the Lord (and we found out that there are seven), move throughout the earth (not some places but throughout so you can’t say God does not even look at this our side). God does not need a diplomatic passport to come to where you are. He doesn’t only go to towns and cities or educated people; He goes everywhere. His eyes range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed; loyal and completely His.
Take note of the operative word ‘fully committed to Him’. Let me finish the passage, “You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war”. What was the story? A certain king, Asa who used to trust God became a big boy. And God went like, Okay, so you trust me sometimes and other times you don’t trust me. Watch how it will be – from now on, you will have war. In other words, “my eyes went out and we saw what you did. Full commitment is what I demand, and you are not fully committed; see what you did.” ‘Full commitment’ – that’s the operative word.
So, if you’re wondering like I wonder sometimes, “how come in this area I want to overcome and be better, I can’t? I don’t seem to have the strength no matter how much I try.” Hear this, oh ye blamers of God, on judgement day you will find out that was baloney. The answer is that you were not fully committed but told stories.
What Is Full Commitment?
Full commitment is a concept that we don’t really understand. It is where the stories of men of God come from. Full commitment is what kept them permanently different from everyone else; that’s how real the strengthening of the eyes of the Lord is.
Now imagine if we continued and kept our foot on the pedal instead of applying the brakes ever so often, we’d be walking on air by now. Why? Because we would have pressed in till we cracked over into the other side of the spirit. Our pressing in and commitment isn’t only for when it comes to spiritual matters, it applies to everything that is yours to do. God will strengthen you wherever He finds you, if you’re fully committed. His eyes do not run through the temple, they run through the whole earth.
He can strengthen you in your business and you can come become a very rich business woman. But how will you practice being fully committed to Him? As the preacher does not practice only when he stands to preach, but in the area of personal Bible study, so also, you must be fully committed to God in your day-to-day ‘mundane’ tasks.
If you have personal chores, be fully committed to it. Identify what it requires and what is expected of you and do it fully. Yes, you may not jump from 0 to 10 at once. But can you at least aim for 6, and then increase. How are you going to do that? Break the chore down into small tasks, list them out and then apply yourself to them. Remind yourself daily, look at them, then run and do them. Keep doing this. Keep everything in place and the Lord will strengthen you. As they pass through, the Spirits of God will stop and say, “Give strength there.” And that’s the added boost that will flow. So, if you want the Lord’s help with anything, just be fully committed. For that is what is required for this oil to flow in abundance.
When you are fully committed, suddenly you’re not alone. You’ll have the spirit of the fear of the Lord standing next to you, telling you what to do and what not to do. You’ll be surrounded by the Spirit of might to do extraordinary things with supernatural strength and ease. God helps far more people than we know. We act like He goes around asking, “Are you a Christian?” But that is not true. He helps the farmer in Iraq – a Muslim – as well. There is far more help being given to all of humanity than we would agree with as Christians. So let this be our watch word: “Full commitment!”
Identify your list of things, your ‘matters’, place them before you, then apply full commitment to them. God will help us by strengthening us with His seven spirits. Knowledge is strengthening, wisdom is strengthening, and that stands you out. Counsel is strengthening. These are the ways the eyes of the Lord will strengthen you. Take your eyes off blaming the Lord; that is a very foolish thing to do. It’s the whining of an extremely spoilt person. When you apply full commitment to anything, it will show. It shows in what interests you, the attention you pay to certain things and the things that bother you the most.
So, this is my exhortation: our commitment cannot be internal. Nobody has commitment that is just in their heart. It will have to manifest externally. You can’t say, “It’s only God that knows,” or “Don’t worry, God sees my heart”, because human beings see the outward, and that’s important as well. They see how you always respond to certain prayers and instructions. They see the commitment you have to being where certain things happen, and the lack of commitment for other things. It shows when people’s hearts are fully committed to something.
Stop saying that you would like to do better when it’s not true. We have to repent of telling lies. You can’t be telling lies while wanting the spirit of truth to strengthen you; you are going to have to be honest. Write down the plans and prepare yourself for OPERATION FULL COMMITMENT. Make sure you tell the truth and don’t say, “I tried” when you did not; be real.
How Do I Know that I am Fully Committed?
When people are fully committed, they do anything. If you have been a Christian for any length of time, when you look back at your life, search for the times when changes happened. You’ll see that those were the times you did radically difficult things. You stressed yourself. There is a price you paid. What made things stop happening? You stopped being fully committed. You reached a 5/10 max, and that’s the furthest you’re doing. In fact, to be honest, most times, it’s 3/10; that’s the amount of effort you put in.
In the past, you put in way more effort. You’d say, “I must pray in the morning. I don’t care what happens”. You stood on the veranda when it was raining. You pushed yourself like you were crazy. But then you stopped and became lazy. You began to say, “God knows I’m trying”.
I’m just informing you that your plan to say, “God knows my heart, I am trying”, is a big fat lie. It’s not even near to reality. Your commitment is naught. Take this as notice from the Almighty that you have been lying. If not, you will not be in a happy place when you meet Him. While you are struggling (you who has experienced, tasted and seen that God is good), there’s someone who has never tasted, who is pressing in right now – and succeeding.
And this applies to everything, from prayer to the study of the word. What did you give up before? You fasted, you walked away from food, but now you refuse to. In the past, you walked off to quiet places to pray but now? You keep saying, “I’ve really been trying to do better at my chores, I’m really trying to do better at my work,” but are you fully committed? You wonder why you don’t have more money. It’s because you’re too lazy. Your work ethic is 1.5/10. If you really wanted to get more business, you will push more.
There are too many things we expect God to drop on our laps as we are sitting down. I heard a vision from long ago about people that are backslidden and how they were kind of expecting God to come and carry them from where they were. There was an element of them expecting God to do something they ought to do. And they would keep staying there waiting for Him. It was a slightly scary vision.
If someone that has backslidden, who became cold and hard wants God to soften them, they didn’t do what ought to be done for it to be softened. There is a desperation that is needed and it shows in actions. Why do the eyes of the Lord run through every time and they pass you? It is because you are so non-committed that they pass. There’s no stopping to strengthen you. The job of the eyes of the Lord is to stop and strengthen those who are fully committed. You are not fully committed so they passed you by. If you continue like this, you may get to be 55 years old and they have still not stopped because you’re not fully committed. They do not stop to strengthen unserious people.
So What Should We Do?
I will declare ‘Operation Stop the Eyes.’ This means that if you want the eyes of the Lord to stop and strengthen you then it means that you are going to have to be fully committed. Get radical and the eyes will stop, because God is faithful. You will finally have that encounter. But don’t do the barest minimum and then tell yourself that you’re trying. Most times, the problem is that you don’t even know what it means to try.
The seven eyes of God are the seven Spirits of God: The Spirit of Lordship, wisdom and understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord (Revelation 5:6 and Isa 11:2). These spirits will come on us and strengthen us and we will be radically different. If you can take this word of the Lord, within one week to a month, some things you have been struggling with for years will adjust finally.
Personal prayer: Father, I give myself to full commitment in my attitude, in my sleeping, in my waking, in my study, in my prayer, in my leading, in everything I do. I ask, Father Lord, that I want to be fully committed. I place myself for capacity to be fully committed to what it is that I am called to do, whether it is in training or acquiring a skill.
My prayer for you:
Father, I ask for grace for everyone here as they commit themselves to do whatever is their responsibility, as they commit themselves to excelling in what is right, in pursuing what is needful, Father Lord, help us and let there be an outpouring right now, an outpouring of capacity and ability. You might have demons, if you are fully committed, they will leave. There is nothing you can’t get rid of if you’re fully committed.
So Father God, we ask for full commitment for those that lack the ability to be able to obey. Give them grace to be fully committed to obeying. For those who lack capacity to arise and carry out their responsibility, give them grace to be fully committed. Those who lack the ability to take instructions properly, Father, give them grace to be committed to listening carefully and let them have everything they need to be fully committed. And for everyone, I ask for grace to be fully committed in Jesus’ name. Amen.
