We all long to be known, and loved.
And we already are. I wonder why we don’t grow up feeling this, or feeling it enough.
As we age, questions surface. Who am I? Why am I here? What’s good about me?
Life answers harshly. Kids can be mean sometimes. We get left out. People misunderstand. Someone important leaves. We had reasons to make those conclusions, it’s all my own fault. We believed things about ourselves we would never voice aloud.
But these beliefs we adopt as children can become pillars we build life on.
Of course, those pillars will not stand. They always break down somewhere. But God shows up with a solid foundation. One that answers our deep need to be known and loved.
Imagine David sitting down, alone, asking God, Do you really know me? Do you care?
The Spirit of God whispers, “Oh yes. I know you, David.” He goes on, and David writes all God speaks to his heart, for the rest of us.
You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.You hem me in, behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Psalm 139:1-6, NIV
God-knows-me, he wrote. Not “God knows everything”, but He knows me.
God has dug into your insides and uncovered every detail. He knows you more than you know yourself. He knows your ups and downs, when you’re out and at home, awake and asleep, and everything in between.
God knows your thoughts—and understands them—even before you give them words. Even when you don’t understand what you are feeling or why…He understands. He perceives…from afar, this speaks of motives behind thoughts. It’s a little scary, isn’t it? That He knows every attitude of our hearts? And yet He chose to make you and me, and to know.
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day for darkness is as light to you. Psalm 139:7-12, NIV
Maybe God’s omnipresence troubled David. But as he works through this idea, that there is nowhere I can go, apart from God, he sees this: God’s presence everywhere in this world is for good.
God’s hand guides and holds us up. Even in darkness, in times we run from Him, or painful trials we barely make it through. God sees through the darkness in our lives to the other side, to all the other sides. He is drawing us toward Him in ways we cannot see.
I pray today we live aware that He knows us deep down, and cares to stay near. That we respond with love for Him, and praise Him for all He is and does, and then we live our lives at rest IN HIM. There is nothing I need more, this day…
This is so beautifully true! I loved every word of it. Thanks Ang!!