God knows me?
How many people do you know? Is it dozens, hundreds, more? It rather depends how we define ‘know’ as we ask the question.
Most of us can probably number acquaintances in the hundreds, though we may not know most of those people very much more than their name and approximately what they do or where they live.
To describe that we actually ‘know’ someone is an entirely different idea: we probably ‘know’ a few people well enough to understand their past experiences, attitudes, priorities, hopes and dreams. To ‘know’ someone in those terms takes both time, effort and, interest. To ‘know’ someone like that is inevitably a two-way process: as we befriend and learn to love them and they do the same with us. Such people are likely to be restricted to only family and close friends.
The idea of ‘knowing’ famous or powerful people like that isn’t likely to happen to most of us. Yet as we thought last Sunday morning from Paul’s letter to the Galatians, those of us who have put our hope and trust in the Lord Jesus can be certain that we ‘know’ God in some measure but also, amazingly, that He ‘knows’ us:
“ … that you know God—or rather are known by God…” (Gal 4:9)
That means that in addition to keeping the sun shining, the world turning and providing for all of creation in the midst of its brokenness, the God of eternity both understands and cares about you and me and He does that because He is truly interested!
Whatever we may think or feel, being known by God is a very precious Gospel truth. How about pausing to thank Him for being interested in you…. (See also Psalm 139)?
Spencer Shaw