O, Lord, You have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and rise up; You discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. (Verses 1-3)
Vanessa had a pretty gnarly day yesterday, her first full day in her new position at work. All kinds of new things to learn, some very frustrating and coming from an even more frustrating corporate type. We listened to her last night while she became emotional about the day. But underneath the obvious first day jitters was the fact that she misplaced her keys to the restaurant...ALL the keys on the same ring. And she's a manager now. They all looked everywhere. Nothing. Feeling inadequate and a little irresponsible, it just made the day rougher. I hate losing things. You wouldn't know that because I'm still always doing that--losing stuff. My glasses. My car keys. Where I just put the papers I was rifling through. It makes me feel stupid. Stupid is my go-to response to circumstances I think are my fault. So, in the night and early this morning I just prayed and prayed over those dumb keys for Vanessa! Lord, You know where they are. You see them right now. Please make them visible to others. You can imagine how great I felt when Vanessa texted me cheerily part way through the day to say they had been found!
This little incident pretty much sums up these three verses. God sees and knows me. He knows what makes me tick. The things that thrill me. Circumstances that make me fighting mad. He understands how I'm probably going to react to life because God knows when I sit down or stand up. What I'm thinking at any particular time. Where I'm going and where I've been. All of it. Every bit. My best and worst thoughts. My greatest failings and my highest achievements. God is inside my head. And His Spirit is like a heat-seeking missile checking out my heart. My heavenly Father knows me. Better than I know myself. That can either be a comfort or a shame. It certainly makes me stop and think. There are times when what goes on in my mind is anything but what I'd want Jesus to be looking at, much less what I actually do! It should be sobering to us, but also a great comfort. If we are intentionally living for Him, we want God there all the time. And, we want to know Him the way He knows us! Intimately. Fully. I say to Him all the time: "Don't let me get away with anything that doesn't please You." That's why I don't sleep all the time. Yep.
It's what we all want, though, to know and be known. For someone to care so deeply about us that when we talk with her she just gets us. Wants to hear our story. God is so interested in our lives that He wants to answer the prayer, "Where are my keys, Father?" It's not too simple for Him. I'm still praying that Jesus will tell a precious friend of mine where a ring is that her mother gave her. That's not a prayer I think is silly to pray because God, for Pete's sake, has better things to do with His time than care about our stuff. No! My God is there. In everything I do. Knows me. Loves me. Cares about what I care about. That makes me want to love Him reciprocally. Care about what He cares about. Know what makes Him tick. Know as I am known. Someday I will. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known (1 Corinthians 13). I want to know Him more. And more. And more.
Vanessa had a pretty gnarly day yesterday, her first full day in her new position at work. All kinds of new things to learn, some very frustrating and coming from an even more frustrating corporate type. We listened to her last night while she became emotional about the day. But underneath the obvious first day jitters was the fact that she misplaced her keys to the restaurant...ALL the keys on the same ring. And she's a manager now. They all looked everywhere. Nothing. Feeling inadequate and a little irresponsible, it just made the day rougher. I hate losing things. You wouldn't know that because I'm still always doing that--losing stuff. My glasses. My car keys. Where I just put the papers I was rifling through. It makes me feel stupid. Stupid is my go-to response to circumstances I think are my fault. So, in the night and early this morning I just prayed and prayed over those dumb keys for Vanessa! Lord, You know where they are. You see them right now. Please make them visible to others. You can imagine how great I felt when Vanessa texted me cheerily part way through the day to say they had been found!
This little incident pretty much sums up these three verses. God sees and knows me. He knows what makes me tick. The things that thrill me. Circumstances that make me fighting mad. He understands how I'm probably going to react to life because God knows when I sit down or stand up. What I'm thinking at any particular time. Where I'm going and where I've been. All of it. Every bit. My best and worst thoughts. My greatest failings and my highest achievements. God is inside my head. And His Spirit is like a heat-seeking missile checking out my heart. My heavenly Father knows me. Better than I know myself. That can either be a comfort or a shame. It certainly makes me stop and think. There are times when what goes on in my mind is anything but what I'd want Jesus to be looking at, much less what I actually do! It should be sobering to us, but also a great comfort. If we are intentionally living for Him, we want God there all the time. And, we want to know Him the way He knows us! Intimately. Fully. I say to Him all the time: "Don't let me get away with anything that doesn't please You." That's why I don't sleep all the time. Yep.
It's what we all want, though, to know and be known. For someone to care so deeply about us that when we talk with her she just gets us. Wants to hear our story. God is so interested in our lives that He wants to answer the prayer, "Where are my keys, Father?" It's not too simple for Him. I'm still praying that Jesus will tell a precious friend of mine where a ring is that her mother gave her. That's not a prayer I think is silly to pray because God, for Pete's sake, has better things to do with His time than care about our stuff. No! My God is there. In everything I do. Knows me. Loves me. Cares about what I care about. That makes me want to love Him reciprocally. Care about what He cares about. Know what makes Him tick. Know as I am known. Someday I will. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known (1 Corinthians 13). I want to know Him more. And more. And more.
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