He knows me......

Last fall my son attended the final 2008 Presidential Debate, which took place at the college he is attending. He was in the same room, (okay, BIG room,) as the next President of the United States. It struck me then how few people ever get to say they are in the same room as the President.

Several years ago, my brother attended a function in Pennsylvania at which then President George W. Bush was the speaker. It was a much smaller room than the debate. He said that regardless of your political views, it was thrilling to be in the room with the President.

My friend Cordelia got up at the crack of dawn to attend a campaign rally for Barack Obama in Philadelphia. She was able to be in one of the first couple of rows and had the photos to prove it. She was so excited to have had that opportunity.

A couple of days ago, between one and two million people stood on the Parkway in Washington DC to be there when Barack Obama was inaugurated as our new president. Only the first few hundred, maybe a thousand, were probably close enough to actually see it with their own eyes, most of the rest could only watch it on the Jumbo Trons. And some people were happy just to be able to see the top of the Capitol Building in the distance. But nevertheless, they wanted to be in the same geographical area just to be near the historic event.

Somewhere, everyday, average, everyday people will go to see someone who is powerful or famous, someone they think they know all about, just to have a chance to be near them. Maybe they will get to shake hands, or get an autograph; or if they are really fortunate, the person will acknowledge them and speak to them. Miley Cirus, the Jonas Brothers, Queen Elizabeth, JK Rowling, Tiger Woods, Hillary Clinton, George Bush (H. or W.) ...famous, powerful people who are flocked by average Joes and Janes everyday. Even though we feel we know these people, chances are, they will never, ever know us.

All of this has me thinking how awesome, and I mean AWE-SOME, that we have complete access to someone even greater than any of those people: the Creator of all of those people....the Creator of EVERYTHING. We don't need to wait on line, or go through Secret Service security checks, or win a contest, or buy a ticket to meet with God wherever and whenever we want. But even better than that is that He KNOWS us. He knows us before we know him. Think about that......that ought to bring you some joy!

Scripture tells us over and over that God knows us, even better than we know ourselves. I found dozens of scriptures that confirm God's complete acquaintance with each one of us. Here are a few:

"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you....." Jeremiah 1:5

"Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you." Isaiah 46:4

"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me-" John 10:14

And of course, there is Psalm 139. And that's what I'll leave you with to ponder. I'm not discounting the thrill of meeting someone famous. I'm just as impressed as the next person. But once in a while, I really think about how we get to know and be known by, and and do work for, the One and Only True Living God, the Creator, the Alpha and the Omega.......

Psalm 139

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.

5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.

19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.

21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
and abhor those who rise up against you?

22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.