As comforting as it is that God sees me, there is purpose and enlightenment in the fact that the Lord knows me.
Sometimes I get stuck on themes in scripture like Isaiah 6, which led me to last week’s blog of Hagar’s encounter with “the One who sees me.” As I experience God, I am led from a God who sees me to a God who knows me. Isaiah must have felt much the same. Let’s look at it again.
“I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
When we experience God, we are led from a God who sees us to a God who knows us.
As fascinated as I am by this vision of God and the angels, I find it odd that these heavenly beings keep their faces covered. My study note reads, “Apparently they could not gaze directly at the glory of God.” I can only compare it to trying to look at the sun. I want to take in all of its beauty but cannot because it is just too much to behold. These seraphs or seraphim are defined as; “an angelic beings,… belonging to the highest order…, associated with light, ardor, and purity.” And yet, even they could not look at the glory of God.
Isaiah knew to look upon God would surely mean death, so he exclaimed, “Woe to me, for I am a man of unclean lips.” What Isaiah did not know was God already knew him. I am certain God instructed the angel to take the hot coal, touch his lips and make him clean. For God was preparing him. David seems to understand this revelation of God knowing us, thus penning one of my favorite psalms.
Psalm 139 says;
You have searched me, Lord,
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, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
The Lord knows me, just like God knows you.
Every time we come into God’s presence, we have a better understanding of who God is. If you look at the stories in scripture, like Isaiah who was afraid he wasn’t clean enough, Hagar who ran away or David who struggled with his own sinfulness, God shows up. He finds us, reveals Himself to us and gives us exactly what we need. Often, God is preparing us, so we may be used by God for God’s glory. That same glory that the seraphs could not even look at.
Jeremiah 1:5 says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,” Such knowledge is overwhelming to me. But just because I cannot understand it, does not change the fact that the Lord knows me. God knows you too. Sit with that knowledge a moment. How amazing is it that the God of the whole universe not only sees us, but knows us and knows us well! That’s a God worth praising!
Let us pray:
God of all that is, thank you for not only seeing us, but knowing us. Help us to experience You more. Teach us who You are through your Word so that we may know You like You know us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
P.S. Don’t forget to leave me a comment below, share this message with a friend or on Facebook. Join me next week as we discover, “the Lord sees me, the Lord knows me and the Lord loves me.” -M
One thought on “The Lord not only sees me, the Lord knows me.”
So humbling. God the Father sees us, knows us and loves us so very much.