In the Lord I Take Refuge: 31 Days in the PsalmsSample

“But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God . . .” (Gal. 4:9). In the New Testament letter to the Galatians, Paul seems almost to correct himself mid-thought, as if saying, “But now that you Galatians have come to know God—no, wait, the deeper truth is that God has come to know you.” That blessed reality of being known by God is the sustained theme of Psalm 139.

Do you know God? Knowing God is a true and useful category for understanding your Christian experience. The Bible itself uses it repeatedly; the purpose of life, after all, is “that we may know him who is true” (1 John 5:20). But our human capacities do not exhaust what it means to be a child of God. “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it” (Ps. 139:6). The broader, deeper, wraparound category of life as the people of God is that he knows us. Not only now, in our present, but way back when we were being formed in the womb, God knew us (v. 15). He also knows our future—every day of it (v. 16).

Do you feel alone? Unknown? Forgotten? Neglected? Sidelined? Marginalized? Remember who you are. If you are in Christ, the deepest reality of your existence is that God knows you. He knows every nook and cranny of your heart. He knows every failure, every fear. He understands you. He does not merely know about you. He knows you. He has pressed you into the inner recesses of his heart. Forgiven and adopted into his family by grace, you are loved by the Lord Jesus Christ with the very love with which the Father loves him (John 15:9).