You've no doubt heard many variations of the line, "God watches over drunks and fools." Some of those variations include God watching over children, third basemen, and sailors. That statement, in any of those variations, is not in the Bible. You might not have thought it was, but I just wanted to confirm, it's not in there. There's a lot of good stuff in the Bible, but sorry, regardless of the translation, that line isn't included.
But that doesn't mean it isn't true. I realize you might doubt the truth of it if you think that "watch over" means "protect from all harm." If you think "God watches over _______" (fill in the blank any way you like) means that God insulates them from anything terribly bad happening to them then yes, we have a problem. The great, tremendous, majority of the time God isn't going to stop gravity or any of the other cause-and-effect "laws of nature" that order our life on this planet just for one individual or one instance. Yes, miracles happen, but the big miracles we think of most when we hear that word happen rarely and from our point-of-view, randomly. We can't rule them out, but we can't count on them to intervene and rescue us from the next blow that's coming. If we think that God was watching a drunk, a child, a you-name-it and something terrible happened, then what's often the conclusion we reach? For many folks it's, "What a lousy God."
What is in the Bible is a description of a world that is messed up, a God who is grieved by it and has implemented a plan for its healing. What is in the Bible is a consistent description of a God who is aware of, and somehow personally cares for every person on the planet, whether they're drunk or sober, young or old, etc. What is in the Bible and is bigger than the Bible is a God who makes gracious overtures to people relentlessly, regardless of past records or current circumstances. I've known enough drunks, victims, abusers and others who've given this God the benefit of the doubt and found it to be true. And they knew, "God was watching over me." I hope you know it too.
