Desperate for Hope: Questions We Ask God in Suffering, Loss, and LongingSample

I moved multiple times before I turned thirty. While I liked the adventure, the first few months in a new place were lonely as I longed to be known. I still remember the first person who invited me to dinner in every city and got to know some of my story. That personal connection changed everything for me.

Think about this: what makes you feel known, and why is this important?

God knows us better than anyone ever has or ever will. There is nothing about us that God doesn’t know. Our fears. Our frustrations. Our fantasies. Our fleeting thoughts and our long-forgotten dreams.

Psalm 139 focuses on how well God knows us. When I visited a close friend who was in the hospital after a mental breakdown, I read Psalm 139 to her, inserting her name as I spoke. She said those words changed her as she understood for the first time that she was fully known, loved, and accepted by God.

Read Psalm 139:17 in the translations below:

“How precious also are Your thoughts for me, God! How vast is the sum of them!” (NASB, emphasis mine).

“How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!” (NLT, emphasis mine).

Meditate on this verse for a few minutes and journal your thoughts.

Does this interpretation/translation touch you as deeply as it did me? God thinks about me all the time, and I can’t even count His thoughts toward me. They are as innumerable as the grains of sand.

God knows us and loves us. We must believe these truths to find real hope in our suffering.

Today, read Psalm 139, focusing on verses 1-4 and 13-16.

As you read, consider these questions: What does God know about you? How does God know us so well? From these verses, what else can you add to the list of what God knows about you?