It’s happened to all of us. We’re talking at the dinner table or watching a show when the magical incantation is said, “Hey Alexa…”

Technology has become a central part of our daily lives. Often, we don’t even realize just how highly automated our routines have become. Do you remember having to manually “set the clock back” for seasonal time changes? Though this is announced twice a year, like clockwork, I haven’t had to change the clocks in our house…because “Alexa” does it for me. Even simple conversation starters, like “What is your favorite…” or curiosities like “I wonder what…” are eventually redirected towards a digital personal assistant, such as Alexa or Siri. The phrase “Hey Alexa” is said and heard so often in our house that the first time our children met a church member named Alexa, they were a bit shell-shocked, as if they had met a celebrity.

Technology like this has opened a whole new world of possibilities, independence, and knowledge. In many ways, we have become heavily reliant upon these digital assistants. I’m not here to drag technology through the mud. All technological advances (such as the printing press, steam engines, electricity, and the internet) come with both benefits and difficulties. With personal assistants, the idea of being “always there, and listening” is both exciting and scary.

This perceived omniscience is only “a drop in a bucket” when compared to The One who is always listening. John writes,

“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” (1 John 5:14-15)

God hears the humble (Ps 10:17), the distressed (Ps 18:6), the righteous (Ps 34:15), the unrepentant (Ps 55:19), the trapped (Ps 71:2), the troubled (Ps 77:1-2), spiritually strong (Ps 84:5-8), the destitute (Ps 102:17), the imprisoned (Ps 102:20), the sorrowful (Ps 116:2-3), and the hopeful (Ps 130:2).

That God hears us all is exciting for some, scary for others. The refrain of the old hymn “Watching You” perfectly captures this duality:

Watching you, watching you,

Ev’ry day mind the course you pursue;

Watching you, watching you,

There’s an all-seeing Eye watching you.

At all times, there is an eye watching, an ear listening, and a hand protecting the children of God. (John 10:28) As we walk in the light as he is in the light (1 John 1:7), this is a comforting thought. But, if we walk in darkness (1 John 1:6), every idle word becomes a thing we’re afraid to be heard (Matt 12:36-37). Rest assured,

“we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (2 Cor 5:10)