God Knows You, Plain and Simple

“O Lord, you have searched me [thoroughly] and have known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up [my entire life, everything I do]; You understand my thoughts from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and You are intimately acquainted with all my ways. 

Even before there is a word on my tongue [still unspoken], behold, O Lord, You know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before, and [You have] placed Your hand upon me. Such [infinite] knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high [above me], I cannot reach it.” (Psalm 139:1-5, AMP)

When you were little, did your school do a grandparents day? Mine did, and I always loved it. It was always a special day where you got to have some of the most important people in your lives come to school, listen to you sing a song, have a snack, and show off your best art projects to. And I think I was probably more lucky than most kids, because I had more grandparents than the average kid. You see, both my parents’ parents are divorced and remarried before I was born, so I never knew the norm was to have only two sets of grandparents. Plus, I had two great-grandmas, so I had quite a pack to choose from. 

Growing up, my brother and I had a very close relationship with my great-grandma, Emma. Truly, her life was remarkable. She was born in the roaring 20s and grew up in Puerto Rico. Later in her life, she moved to New York City, where she grew a family and would live to see 12 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren. Grandma Emma was heavily involved in my life. For many major milestones, she was there, smiling in a chair, purse in her lap.

She loved the simple things: sewing, cooking Spanish food, gardening, garage-saling, and being with family. I remember asking her what the Great Depression was like, since you know, she lived through it, and she told me she honestly didn’t know it was happening. Puerto Rico was already poor, and besides, she had a goat that she sold the milk and cheese off of. 

It was always moments like that that I was speechless over the hand of God in her life. I mean, here was a woman who was very poor, yet still could make something out of next to nothing. Her first language was Spanish. The hurdles she had to overcome in her life would seem insurmountable to most, and yet God still took her through them all. She was a true Proverbs 31 woman in her own right, one that could make potent hot sauce from scratch and landscaped her yard with a machete. 

Her whole life, in all its simple pleasures and hard knocks, was lived to honor God. She told us all that. What little she had, she gave back to Him. She made sure that He was praised every day. 

When she passed away in 2018, at the ripe old age of 91, there were so many things I wished I asked her about her life; so many stories I wished I had asked her to tell me. I knew her deeply– knew what would make her laugh, knew her tricks to the trade of sewing and cooking, and I knew exactly what to say to get her into the car to hit a few garage sales. (In all reality, it wasn’t that hard!)

But there were other things I didn’t know about her past, the woman she was when she was a wife and a mother, what her dreams were, lessons she learned that might help me transition into roles she had already filled and conquered. Great-grandma Emma, a woman so known and precious to me, was also a mystery in some areas. 

But today, I am comforted knowing that God knew her. God knew her well, and He was the one to greet her when her time was done here and she got to Heaven. He was with her the whole way. And that blesses me, just to know that. Just the same way it blesses me to know that because God knew her, and was with her, how much more does he know me, and walk with me?

Because really, she was part of the blueprint for who I am. He searched her, just the way He searched me and knows me just as deeply. He knows all the days of my life, and whether I’ll live to be 91 or 62, He still knows every day. He holds me through every high and low. He knows my every thought before I even put the words behind it to think about it. Just like the verse says, He is intimately acquainted with all my ways.

And I know, I’m extremely lucky. I come from a long line of people that have followed Christ. My testimony is that I am the product of generations of faith, big and small, and that I have the privilege of being able to see God’s hand over my whole bloodline, and get to stand in the deep assurance that God will continue to be just as faithful to me. And that, in turn, draws me to Him more soundly and trust Him more wholly. 

If you’re the same way, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. If not, that’s okay, it doesn’t take away from the fact that God knows you and loves you deeply. He is intimately aware of every nuance of your personality. He has already searched you and knows you.

How incredibly special that is: to be known by God so thoroughly that He can anticipate your thoughts! Despite all the ways you might let Him down– despite the sin that separates you from Him– He still desires you enough to know everything. That’s a love unlike anything else I can fathom. And for my own personal story, it shows just how deep God’s forever love for me is: that He would love Grandma Emma so much that He would follow her bloodline down to draw me close as well. That He would love me so deeply that He would contextualize me through the generations of my family.

That’s how we can rest assured that our God isn’t just pulling strings from on high or toying with creation for the fun of it. He is a creator that is dedicated to knowing His creation on the deepest levels there is, whether or not we ever take the time to draw near and know Him. 

So today, just know that God knows you. There is not one inch of your body, corner of your mind, or corridor of your heart that surprises Him, and yet He still loves you and chooses you to be His.