Completely Known and Completely Loved

“Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely.”  (Psalm 139:4)

Think with me for a second.  God knows you completely, and yet He still loves you completely.  No evil or sinful atom in your body is hidden in the sight of God.  He knows it all, and that truth does not hinder His love and pursuit of you.  Feel the weight of this.  Before a word is on your tongue, God knows it completely.  

When you speak truth to someone, God sees it coming before it happens.  When you speak down to someone, God knows the evil before it comes out.  When you lie and veer from the truth, God is not surprised.  You are completely known.  Typically, this would scare us to death.  With God, however, it should free us and cause thankfulness to flow.  A perfect God who knows the evil inside of a human being should cast that person out.  The cross of Christ says otherwise.

The God who created everything, including you, sees all imperfection and still chooses to sweep you up in love.  The slaying of His own Son proves this point.  God’s sacrifice, not yours, enables you to be laid bare before Him without a trace of condemnation.  When God looks at us, He sees His perfect Son.  Worship should spring out of our hearts as we ponder on this reality.  A supernatural affirmation should rush over us.  You are known and accepted by God.  Who else could you possibly need affirmation from?

The best human being, in his or her own attempt, could never be good enough to earn their way to God.  No one, therefore, can be proud of who they are at the core.  Everyone needs to cling to the truth of the psalm above.  Everyone, probably daily, will have a word hit their tongue that they want to hide from God.  They can’t do it, however, because God knows every one of those words before they come.  To those who trust in His Son, God says, “I still love and want you.  Get up and use a better word next time.”

More than anything, I pray this short devotion would empower you to simply be you.  The verse above should encourage us to stop hiding behind masks.  We have no reason or ability to hide from God Almighty, so why would we feel the need to hide from mere humans?  You can stop trying to keep up a reputation and simply run into the arms of Christ.  Be vulnerable with Him.  He already knows you.  Then, be vulnerable with others.  Be completely known and be completely confident in your Creator’s supernatural love and affirmation of you.  

Do you have a filthy past?  No matter what it looks like, it is not too much for the cross at Calvary.  Are you afraid to tell someone about a struggle that you have?  It is already visible to God.  Be okay with the opinions of people because the God of heaven thinks highly of you.  Your struggle was known completely before it came to be.  God still chose to pursue you, knowing your filth.  That, dear friend, is a deep grace of God.  Let it change you forever.

A clear understanding of our verse above will ultimately lead to a better choice of words.  This is God’s design.  Someone who falls and knows that God still loves them will not continually fall in the same way.  If so, they do not grasp what God is ultimately doing in His grace.  He picks us up so that we will grow.  If a father knows that his child will never walk, he will not pick the child back up when he or she falls.  The father will keep the child down where he or she can crawl.  God does not let us crawl.  He picks us up so that we can take another step in our pursuit of walking.

Know, today, that you are completely known.  God sees the good and the bad.  He sees the beauty and the ugliness inside of you.  Yet, nothing hinders His love for you.  You are completely loved.  Let this empower and strengthen your faith.  Treasure this gracious God.  Fall into His loving arms.  Feel an affirmation that shatters fear.  Be you because God knows you and loves you.  Before a word hits your tongue, God knows it completely.