Of all the people in your life, who knows you best? Your spouse, as your other half, might get first place in this department. Or one of your parents, maybe a child, who epitomizes your closest relationship and represents what you value most. Perhaps you have an intimate friend who has walked life’s journeys with you and knows your heart.
Personally, I can think of some who know me well but none who know me fully. I’m even an enigma to myself sometimes! Does anyone ever really know us fully? Can they?
I would answer yes to both … but we won’t find them in a partner, family member, or confidant. The only one who knows us truly is our Maker and Father, God Himself.
Psalm 139 paints the picture: “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb … My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 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” (13, 15-16, ESV).
Like God sculpted Adam out of the dust and breathed life into his nostrils, He is aware of every detail of our minds and bodies, because He built them.
This comforts me greatly, especially when I am appalled by my own sinfulness. Have you ever had that? Sometimes I can’t believe my own tendency to rebel, desire to indulge myself and harm others, temptation to please my flesh instead of God. Maybe you share the frustration. What is it with the human heart??
Jeremiah says it well. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (17:9). He shares God’s Word: “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds” (verse 10). Human beings are corrupt creatures indeed.
“Who is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God?” – 1 Samuel 6:20
In our iniquity, none of us can present ourselves before the Holy and Living God. He is perfect, sinless, all-knowing. There is nothing we can hide from Him; He sees it all, pierces through our inner intentions, and yet—loves us!
How can that be? When I study the mirror, test my thoughts, and exasperate myself with my own grievances against God, I am constantly amazed at His forbearance, forgiveness, and faithfulness to complete His good work started in me. I am a sinner, but Christ is my Savior. Until I die, I will fight the sin in my life, which Christ has already conquered and freed me from. He is sanctifying me, and you, and everyone who penitently calls upon Him name.
God’s Provision: On one hand is Psalm 76:7. But you, you are to be feared! Who can stand before you when once your anger is roused? On the other, our confident, undeserved hope. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Surely, whoever believes in him is not condemned! (John 3:18). His righteousness covers us—our new identity.
Word of the Week: Propitiation. A fancy way of saying atonement, appeasement, satisfaction. Christ pleased God on our behalf, fulfilling the duty we could not uphold and granting His perfection in place of our transgression. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:25).
Abby
