Known and Loved

The United States Census Bureau estimates that in the 2020 census there were 7,900,000,000 people living in the world; in North and South America combined, there were 1,022,841,000 people; in North America, there were 592,072,000 people; there were 331,449,000 people living in the USA; Wyoming had the smallest censes at about 576,850, and California the largest at about 39,538,200. You may live in a town where there are 500,00 or 5,00 people, a street that has one house or 100 houses, and in a home by yourself or with ten people. Out of those 7,900,000,000 people in the world, God knows YOU by name. O, sure, He knows everyone else too, but He knows YOU. If anyone were to ask God where you were at this particular moment in time, I am absolutely sure that God could answer that question correctly. He could also tell what you are doing, what you are wearing, who you are with, and everything else about you!

Before we look at a few Scriptures, I have to establish that God is omniscient (all knowing), omnipotent (all powerful) and omnipresent (all present). As a Christian, I believe and know that about my God. He is the God of the universe, who spoke everything into being, looked at it and said that it was very good (see Genesis 1:1-2:3). The amazing thing is that He did this knowing the choices that man would make, the divide that would come between God and man, and the plan that He had to bridge the divide – His Son, Jesus Christ. A logical question would be: why would God do all that if He knew the outcome? God wants you as a child not because you are forced into it, but because you want Him as a Father, through Jesus Christ as your Savior. He wants your love, devotion and obedience out of free will and not from being forced.

Let’s look at some verses that tell us we have been known and loved forever.

Ephesians 1:3-6 “³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, ⁴ just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love ⁵ He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, ⁶to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.” 

Verses 4 and 5 tell us that even before God created the world, He had already chosen us to be His sons, because of His great love for us. John 3:16 is one of the most quoted and best known verses in the Bible: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  God the Father’s plan to make you his son or daughter was to sacrifice His Son for you. If you are a parent, that should catch your heart. I have two daughters: thank goodness I do not have to decide to give one up for the other! How do you make that choice? But God did: He asked Jesus to do what only He could do. God waited for the right time, thousands of years after the creation of the world, to put His plan into motion (the next time you are feeling impatient, think about that!) And throughout His wait, He knew each one of our names, and knew we would be His sons and daughters.

Perhaps the most beautiful expression of God’s love for and knowledge of us is found in Psalm 139. Following are some verses, but when you have a chance, read the whole thing. It’s a good read!

¹O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
² You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar.
³ You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
⁴ Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O Lord, You know it all.
⁵ You have enclosed me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot attain to it. Psalm 139:1-6

It takes some effort to know someone really well, to focus your attention on them, and to get to the point that you know what they are going to say before they say it. If you have such an intimate relationship with someone, you are truly blessed. That is the relationship that God has with us. God has a standard for relationship: He wants our hearts, our adoration and our obedience, but what we get from Him is infinitely greater than what we can give Him, both now and into eternity. The psalmist goes on to say that he is surrounded by his God in all directions. The enormity of the presence and the knowledge of God is too much for the psalmist, who is in awe.

⁷ Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence? Psalm 139:7

For some, a relationship as deep and intimate as described here is frightening, and they want to run from it. In that intimate relationship with God, there is nowhere to flee from His presence (He is everywhere!), and why would you want to? God tells us that “perfect love casts our fear [dread or terror], because fear involves punishment [torment]” (1 John 4:18). The love that God has for us is a perfect love, so it cannot involve fear when we allow it into our hearts and lives. The love that we have in us from the Father is His perfect love. And drives out any fear we may be hiding. Fear and love cannot co-exist. Fear drives us away; love draws us in.

¹³ For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
¹⁶ Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them. Psalm 139:13-16

God’s intimate knowledge of you started before you were born: He made every piece of you from the inside out, the outside in, and everything in between: your physical body, your mind and your personality. He lovingly wove you together in your mother’s womb; when everyone else was waiting for you to be born, to see you and know you, Father was already seeing, knowing and loving you. He already knew the course your life would take, and each day of your life, although you had not breathed a single breath yet. There is truly nothing hidden from Him.

¹⁷ How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You. Psalm 139:17-18

The Father’s thoughts about you are not just empty wanderings: they have value, and they are countless. He thinks about you all the time, knows where you are and what you are doing. You are so precious in His eyes! He knows when you lie down to sleep, watches over you while you sleep, and when you wake up you are still with Him. It’s as if God has wrapped you up in the warm, comforting blanket of His presence and His love. Don’t be too quick to discard that blanket. Stay there, enjoy this awesome love that has been given to you. Let it seep into every part of your body and your awareness. Rest in it. The Father loves you so much that He sacrificed His first born Son, Jesus Christ for YOU. And Jesus loves you so much that He willingly did what had to be done to bring you into relationship with God.

And our response? 1 John 4:19: “We love, because He first loved us.”