Known

Recently we attended our niece’s wedding. As the maid of honor and best man made their speeches, it reminded me of our own reception and that moment of uncertainty as the speeches began. My husband’s best man was my younger brother. My maid of honor was my best friend of ten years (and thankfully over thirty-three years now). As I waited for the speeches, I anticipated the sharing of many precious memories from spending so much time together, times of laughter and tears, times of being known well and loved by a good friend. At the same time, there was a whisper of fear. Both maid of honor and best man knew me better than most. They knew secret things I hoped would stay secret forever, but if my secrets were revealed, would others still be my friends?

This captures the human heart. Part of us desperately wants people to know us on a deeper level where nothing is hidden. We can completely be ourselves. No pretenses. No putting on our best manners. Just us on good days and hard days. Yet, we also fear being known more deeply because the person who knows us might not like what they discover. They may stop loving us. They might leave us. They might even gossip what they learned about us.

I am grateful for people in my life that I can be completely real with like my husband. He still loves me and stands by me with all my quirks and sins. But there is One who knows us completely, – more so than any human ever could – but despite this most intimate, complete knowledge, He will never leave or forsake us. He will never cease loving us. Let’s read Psalm 139:1-18.

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!

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

you discern my thoughts from afar.

3 You search out my path and my lying down

and are acquainted with all my ways.

4 Even before a word is on my tongue,

behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

5 You hem me in, behind and before,

and lay your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

it is high; I cannot attain it.

7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!

If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

9 If I take the wings of the morning

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10 even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

and the light about me be night,”

12 even the darkness is not dark to you;

the night is bright as the day,

for darkness is as light with you.

13 For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!

How vast is the sum of them!

18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.

I awake, and I am still with you. [1]

Today I want us to consider how being completely known by God alleviates any fear of being known because in being known we experience God’s never-ending presence and care. You may have noticed in the above verses that David does not speak in general terms about God’s knowledge, presence, or care. He speaks in personal terms. “O Lord, You have searched me and known me” (emphasis added). This should be your first encouragement today. God knows you. God is with you. God cares for you.

First, let’s look at just how completely we are known by God (verses 1-6). David begins by acknowledging that God has searched him and knows him. God is omniscient. He knows everything, but David describes God as searching us because that helps our understanding of the thoroughness of God’s knowledge of us. C.H. Spurgeon comments, “the meaning of the Psalmist is, that the Lord knows us as thoroughly as if He had examined us minutely, and had pried into the most secret corners of our being.”

David further elaborates, “You know when I sit down and when I rise up” and “You search out my path and my lying down” – our days’ activity and our rest. Beginning of day to end of day. He knows our every word before one of them is spoken (vs 4) emphasized by altogether showing again God’s thorough knowledge. God hems us in, behind and before (vs 5). This ties into His presence with us, but it also gives the image of no part of us that He doesn’t know. And not only behind and before us, but His hand of blessing is laid on us. There is nothing that God does not know about us. I love David’s response to this knowledge. Not fear at being known so completely, but praise. “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.”

God knows us completely, but in that complete knowledge of us there is nothing that will ever drive Him from us. David asks a rhetorical question “Where shall I go from Your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from Your presence?” (vs 7) We can never escape God. In the Garden after Adam and Eve sinned, they tried to hide from God. They were naked and ashamed, but God knew right where they were. He knew exactly what they had done, and He drew near to them. Our sin does not scare God away. Instead, He is with those in Christ calling us to confidently draw near to the throne of grace to receive the mercy and grace we need.

David describes God’s omnipresence by God being in heaven and Sheol (death), – immeasurable height immeasurable low – and from the wings of the morning to the uttermost parts of the sea – immeasurably to the east and immeasurably to the west. “Even here Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.” What a tender picture of God’s presence with us – being held in the palm of His hand. David’s final illustration is that not even darkness can hide or keep him from God’s presence, “for darkness is as light with You” (vs 12). If we skip ahead to the end of verse 18, David concludes, “I awake, and I am still with You.” God’s presence never ceases.

We have Jesus, Immanuel, God with us, who took on flesh, lived a sinless life in our place, bore the punishment of our sin in our place, and was abandoned by the Father, so that we would never be forsaken. And when Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit to indwell us. We do not need to worry about tomorrow or even the next hour because God is with us always, everywhere, each step.

God knows us completely, He is with us always, and in His complete knowledge of us, He cares for us. He cared for us even before we were born. He intricately wove us in our mother’s womb (vs 15). He fashioned every cell with loving care. God had a wise and good plan for every day of our life “when as yet there was none of them” (vs 16). His thoughts towards us are vast (vs 17). There is not a single detail of your life that God does not know, and He has purposed each one to conform you to the image of Jesus. He is your loving Father who cares for you and knows every hair on your head (Luke 12:7).

In the Garden after the fall, God made coverings for Adam and Eve. They sinned against Him, but God responded with love and care. He provided for their need by the first blood sacrifice – animal skins to clothe them. God has demonstrated even greater love and care for His children in sending His own Son to die in our place, to take the wrath that should have been poured out on us (John 3:16). This the best news ever! It is the good news we need for salvation, but it is also the good news we need every day as we still struggle with our sin, others’ sin, and the effects of this fallen world because we are assured that nothing will ever separate us from the presence or love of God again (Romans 8:35-39).

Reflection

1. How does being completely known by God comfort you? Are there things you try to “hide” from God like Adam and Eve trying to hide in the Garden?

2. If God not only knows you completely but knows all things completely, then how does that truth encourage you to trust God? Think of a specific circumstance and how it helps you trust God in that circumstance.

3. If God not only knows you completely but is also with you always, then how does God’s presence comfort you? Think of a specific circumstance and how it helps you trust God in that circumstance.

4. If God not only knows you completely, is always with you, and lovingly cares for you, then how does His care comfort you? Think of a specific circumstance and how it helps you trust God in that circumstance.

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ps 139:title – 18.