He Knows Us.

Excerpt from J.I. Packer's "Knowing God"

"I am graven on the palms of [God's] hands. I am never out of his mind. All my knowledge of him depends on his sustained initiative in knowing me. I know him because he first knew me, and continues to know me. He knows me as a friend, one who loves me; and there is no moment when his eye is off me, or his attention distracted from me, and no moment, therefore, when his care falters.

This is momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort- the sort of comfort that energizes, be it said, not enervates- in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love and watching over me for my good. There is tremendous relief in knowing that his love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench his determination to bless me.

There is, certainly, great cause for humility in the thought that he sees all the twisted things about me that my fellow humans do not see (and I am glad!), and that he sees more corruption in me than that which I see in myself (which, in all conscience, is enough). There is, however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that, for some unfathomable reason, he wants me as his friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given his Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose."- pp. 41-42

What an incredible truth. What is important is not merely that we know God, but that HE KNOWS US. To know Christ as the intimate Savior that knows the depths of my soul breaks my heart and continues to draw me closer and closer to Himself through this truth. No human relationship I've ever had has equalled the depth that I share with the Lord Jesus. It isn't because I do good things, or have earned this kind of mercy, but instead, it is because he sought me out, saved me, and brought me into a knowledge of Love that is far better than anything I could ever have imagined. To walk this journey with a King helps me to keep stepping forward and encouraging those walking with me to our Home with Him. We walk, amidst the pain and obstacles along the way, because He gives us HIS strength to do so.