I love what my father-in-law once said in a message he was preaching. He mentioned that Luke 12 tells us that God has numbered the hairs on our heads. He pointed out that not only does God know the sum of the hairs on your head but that he’s also gone so far as to have a number for each one! He knows that hair #674, #223, and #62 came out in your comb this morning. He knows that #112, #332, #27, #96, and #705 are a little grayer than they used to be. I had never really thought about it, and at first it struck me as humorous. Then I felt the full weight and reality of the implied truth of that verse. God sees, investigates, and keeps track of every… single… detail… about His children. Not a freckle, scar, hurt, moment, or detail about our lives is overlooked. Considering this profound truth, my heart echoes David’s, realizing that the eyes of the Master are upon him, asking, “Who am I that you are mindful of me?” Amazing. Can you wrap your heart around that?
Another important truth lies along that same train of thought. I recently read Peter Scazzero’s book The Emotionally Healthy Leader, and in it, he points out something that struck me. He suggests that although God has full access to information about us, that doesn’t mean He has full access to us. Access to information and an invitation to intimacy are two very different things.
David alludes to this in Psalm 139. In fact, he uses verses 1–22—twenty-two whole verses—to speak about just how intimately known by God we really are. You could summarize the passage like this: “Lord, you have all the information about me! There is nothing you don’t know!” But then in verse 23 David cries out, “Search me, O God!” May that be our prayer. “Lord, we don’t want you to just know the details; we invite You into them.”
I think the enemy of our souls wants us to settle for having an information-based relationship with God. That kind of relationship gives us a false sense of what it means to know God and to be known by Him. Consider Adam and Eve. I think that when Satan tempted them with the forbidden fruit, he knew what their response to failure would be. He knew that as soon as they saw that they were exposed they would go into hiding. Humanity’s response to failure has not changed since then. We still hide, and the distance we try to place between ourselves and God is exactly what Satan wants. It’s what he’s always wanted.
We think covering and isolating ourselves from God’s presence is safer than revealing ourselves and inviting God’s presence into our struggle. But what was God’s response to Adam and Eve? He didn’t ask what they did. He already had that information. He asked them where they were. He wanted to know if they would invite Him into their failure. In times of hurt, loneliness, or failure, we tend to hide from Christ, but—hear this, friends—because of his sacrifice for our sins, we now get to hide in Christ. It’s just as Paul said in Romans 8:1: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Study Scripture:
“O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand! I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night— but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you. You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me! O God, if only you would destroy the wicked! Get out of my life, you murderers! They blaspheme you; your enemies misuse your name. O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you? Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you? Yes, I hate them with total hatred, for your enemies are my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”
Psalms 139:1-24 NLT
