I got sucker punched this morning.
Ever read a passage of Scripture that you probably wouldn’t even need eyes to see because you’ve been over it so many times it’s burned into you mind and heart?
Then has that same verse reached up and smacked you in the face in a way you never saw coming?
Yeah, my jaw still hurts…
Psalm 139 is a passage I have read, studied, preached and written on, and if I am completely honest was a little ho-hum about when my daily Bible study asked me to read/pray that passage back to God.
But there it was, this line:
“…and are acquainted with all my ways.” – Psalm 139:3
I know it’s not even a complete thought, but it’s almost more than I can bear. This whole Psalm is about God knowing us: when we sit or rise, words in out mouth before we speak them, knitting us together in our mother’s womb, etc.
So, why would that line be so striking?
God has been acquainted, introduced, has a relationship with “all my ways”, and yet He still…
God has been acquainted with my past, yet He still tells me I have a future. Every dark little corner of my life He is fully aware of, has a perfect knowledge of, and understands even better than I do. He makes no excuses for me since my sin is my sin, my failure is my own and my history has enough evidence to convict me. But, still knowing all that… He is pointing, not at where I have been, but where He wants me to be.
God has been acquainted with my fears, yet He still trusts me with His plan. He knows the times I have cowered, staying closed lipped when He wanted me to speak. He knows the moments the crowd and public opinion swayed me more than His Holy Spirit. He knows the fact the future, and sometimes even the present, seem so utterly overwhelming that all I want to do is cave, hide, run, anything, other than move forward. But, still knowing all that… He assigns me tasks that overlook my fears and depend on His courage.
God has been acquainted with my heart, yet He still allows me to serve in His Kingdom. The impure thoughts, the selfishness and pride, the personal ambition, and the sometimes horrific absence of mercy in my own spirit, God is on a first name basis with… they’ve been acquainted. God has a better picture of my heart than I do, and while I know I should be the last one to be called on, He still keeps picking me for His team. I know of great saints, powerful sacrificial Christians, men of valor and women of virtue, and I know I am not them, but still knowing all that… He still wants me.
The list seems endless. He is acquainted with my doubts, my hurts, my secrets, my errors, my foolishness, my body, mind and soul. Yet, He still reaches, calls and comforts.
What a God we have. My past was known to Him before it even was, and He decided to make it right by the blood of Jesus even before I made it wrong.
My fears are no trouble to Him, for He knows they have no strength and He is able, they are like the child’s bad dreams and fears of a nonexistent boogie man.
My heart is no barrier to Him as He knew just how black and broken it was when He took it in His hands to heal, repair and restore by His own sacrifice on a cross more than 2,000 years ago.
What a God we have. He is acquainted with all our ways, and yet He still…