Who Really Knows Me?
My husband and I dated from afar for 15 months before getting married. We spent a lot of time on the phone. In order to escape mounting long-distance phone charges, we found a loophole: Scott called me at work on the (800) number at the end of my workday and we talked for hours after the office closed. One night, we set a record—5 hours! I missed many dinners in the college cafeteria, but it was worth it (and not just because the food wasn’t great). I wanted to get to know Scott. I wanted to know everything about him. After nearly 22 years of marriage, I love that he can still surprise me. I still don’t know everything about him.
We want to be known. This is part of the attraction to social media. We broadcast our everyday lives in order to be known by our friends, acquaintances, and even strangers. But who really knows me?
“O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away . . . You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, LORD.”
God knows me. Granted, this can be a scary thought. God knows my every thought? He knows everything I do? He knows the words I haven’t even said yet? Yikes. I completely understand Adam and Eve covering themselves with fig leaves because they were ashamed. They wanted to hide; they didn’t want all revealed to God. Our nature is to hide all that we’re ashamed of—our sins, our weaknesses, our failures.
However, at the end of Psalm 139, David, the author, invites God to know him.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”
What was David thinking? Why would he want to be searched out by God? Why do we hide ourselves from others and from God when our deep desire is to be known?
Pride. Pride most often presents a perfect picture on social media. Look at . . . the great meal I am about to eat, the amazing thing my kid/dog did, the hilarious/brilliant thing I just came up with! Pride doesn’t allow us to really be known. Humility, on the other hand, allows us to be vulnerable with God and others, to shine the light on even the dark places.
David knew something about pride . . . and its damaging results. In Psalm 139, David humbles himself before God, asking Him to shine His light on the dark places and lead him into the light, “the path of everlasting life.”
Do you want to be known by the God Who sacrificed all for you, the only One Who loves you unconditionally, no matter what you’re ashamed of? Or will you continue to hide?
