The Value of Being Known - Part 1

There is something profound about "being known". I don't mean what your name is or what job you go to everyday, but truly and utterly known - from what secret music group you love but would die if anyone knew, to what you have a passion for, to what makes you laugh so hard you cry, to what makes your heart swell, to you greatest fears. I think everyone longs to be known in a very real sense - to be connected with someone so closely that your thoughts and feelings are known just as they are happening. I can attest to the fact that there are those friends who can see into your mind's eye when certain things happen and they know what you are thinking. They can read your eyes just like they were reading a open journal of your life. Sometimes that "picture worth a thousand words" is my face when somebody's name comes up and my mouth is tilted into the slightest smirk. A jeweler can count the all the facets of a diamond though it would take quite the investment to see and count each individual cut. With us, there is an infinite number of facets found in one person - so many moods, ideas, thoughts, experiences, challenges and dreams that it almost seems beyond the realm of possible to know all these things about someone.

But God does.

1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me.

2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

You understand my thoughts from afar.

3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down,

and intimately acquainted with all my ways.

4 Even before there is a word on my tongue,

Behold, O LORD, You know it all.

In the first part of Psalm 139, we find David calling out to the LORD, or Yahweh. It is the covenant name of God and it speaks of intensity and intimacy of their relationship. Not to cheapen God's name in anyway but it is likened to when we call our loved ones by personal nicknames. A lot of times, these are names that not everyone knows about but by those that know you and love you. They are names that signify time spent together and a deep relationship that goes beyond the moniker that your attendance lady would use to check if you were at school or not. A lot of times it speaks to your character and who you are. As it is with God Almighty, Yahweh is His name that speaks to His character and who He is.

"Yadah" is the Hebrew word for "searched" meaning "to explore, to dig deeply into, spy out". Yahweh God understands and knows us because He digs into us and has unlimited access into the depths of our lives. He knows us in our passive lives ("when I sit") and He knows our active lives ("when I rise").

I know someone in the FBI and though I have yet to directly discuss this with him to get it directly from the "horse's mouth", I know somewhere in my "knower" that they have some sort of "stalking" equipment and they can find out anything they want to know, about anybody they want to know about. I'm sure he would never call it "stalking" equipment but for lack of a better word (which I guess would be "surveillance"), we will use "stalking". In a very real sense, they can "know" you. Perhaps I am wrong or maybe I watch too many movies. Who's to say? My point is that even though they can get lots of private information, the FBI has limits to what they can get access to. They may know where you live and your credit score but they cannot find out every heart's intention and mind's decision. Only God has unlimited access to that part of you.

Verse 2b "You know my thoughts from afar" - Others see your actions; God sees into your heart. He created you and relished the fact that he knows exactly how you think. What is so huge about that is that the God of all knowledge, the Creator of every human life, Sustainer of the world, would care enough to spend precious time on knowing my thoughts.

I worry about really silly, unimportant things like:

• When can I wear white pants again?
• When is Jessica going to realize she was better with Nick?
• Why can we not wear open toe shoes to work but we can wear sling backs? Are not my newly pedicured toes more attractive than my "winter-ed" heels?

See? Ridiculous, really! And still, He has chosen to sift through these crazy desires, thoughts, simple wonderings and hopes to know each of them as well as He knows His own. And, He does the same sifting through for you. He knew, based on verses 3-4, and was deeply familiar with David's comings and goings and knew the thoughts that would develop into words and the very intentions behind those words - YEARS before David was created.

He doesn't just concern Himself with the big things of life like your salvation or your job choices, marriage issues or health problems. He is concerned with the very little things as well. Why would He care about those silly little things? Because we were created to worship and have fellowship with Him and that doesn't just happen in the critical "decision-making-times" of life. It happens in the ins and outs, ups and downs, and same boring routines that we find ourselves in day in, day out.

There is NO ONE - no sister, brother, mother, father, spouse, child, or friend - who cares more about those little things than the Lord does.

There is NO ONE who cares more about you than the Lord does.

There is NO ONE who knows you like the Lord does.

There is NO ONE who ever will.

Lord, thank you for being so accessible to us and accessing us as you will. The blessings that come from being known by you are too many to count or even acknowledge in so many cases. I pray that we would be an open journal when it comes to fellowship with the Lord and we would trust Him with our struggles, desires, and dreams of what is and what will be. Only He has the sovereignty to provide shelter from the storm, a change in the weather, or a peace in the middle of the storm. I pray that we would not withhold anything that is rightly due Him from our praise, our trust, our loyalty, and our service. May our lives be a living journal of what you can do when we are open to your indwelling within us, even in the little things.