He Knows Us

February 6, 2022

It seems that sleep sleep eludes me. My device says I slept for an hour or something, but I don’t feel like I slept. I know I closed my eyes, and was meditating. So I am up. In the moments when sleep does not come and stay, I will look to you Yahweh. Thank you for life, health and strength. Thank you for a new day. Thank you for the season that I am in: a time where you have chosen to move me and prepare me for the plans that you have for me. And it’s not just about then, it’s about now. To live in this moment and to live everyday with purpose and to hold on to you. It is too easy to gaze into the future in anticipation of what you have promised, but this is a day that you have made: not tomorrow, today. 

Help me to live today, help my thoughts to be on today and what you desire of me to learn today. You have planted me here for a reason, you have chosen for my foundation, my roots to be here for a reason: not just for a season, but for a time. I don’t know exactly (or at all) what I am to do, but I am taking that first step to ground myself in you. To bind myself tightly to you, that I can’t tell where you begin and where I end. Cleanse me Yahweh, so that there is no corruption in my heart, so that my words, my actions would be true to you. You know my end for my beginning. You know every time I’ve cried, every time I laughed. You know the very hairs on my body. You know us because you have been intimate with us, you have drawn close to us. To help us and to heal and to watch over your word. You know the plans that you have for me, even though right now I may feel like I’m walking blind. But it’s not about me. It’s about trusting you. I trust you Yahweh, because you are my strength. You are my provider and you love me with a strength that cannot be measured in heaven or earth. The world has never seen anything like your love and we don’t understand it, but we don’t have to. I just have to accept it. So many times what you are calling me to do is so “simple”, that it is easy to take it for granted. Yahweh, today I accept your love for me: a love that is greater than anything that I could ever hope or imagine for. Thank you for loving me. You know my name and you called me daughter, blessed, conqueror, loved. Thank you Yahweh.

We all want to be known. Not talking about famous known, but the known where you are understood and drawn close to. Where you barely have to say a word and the person knows exactly what you are talking about. We may not have that connection here and then, but we have a father who knows us. He can finish our sentences, he can tell us what we’re thinking before we even say it!

Thank you for finishing us. You are the author and the finisher of our faith: our very being. You know my thoughts tonight/morning, you know how to rein them in. Thank you for taking control, thank you for your promises. Thank you for your thoughts. 

Galatians 4: 8, 9 – When you didn’t know God, you were slave to things which are not really gods at all. But now you know God, or rather God knows you. So how can you turn back again to the powerless and bankrupt principles of this world? Why do you want to become their slaves all over again?

Know meaning: be aware of through observation, inquiry or information. The development of a relationship through meeting and spending time with them.

Know Biblical: To perceive with certainty. To understand clearly.

(Not) Knowing (God): eidotec – to be aware, perceive. Or in this case they haven’t been aware of Yahweh yet. 

(Now you) know God: ginosko – to come to know, recognize. To properly know through personal experience.

(God) knows (you): gnosthentes – intimately. This specific form was used once in the Bible referring to how Yahweh knows us.

When we know Yahweh and he knows us, we are changed. This is when he has accepted us as his sons and daughters. He has called us by his name and has claimed us so that we can inherit what is his.

Psalm 139:1 (really the whole chapter) – Oh Lord, you have examined me and you know me. 

This can either be the scariest thought or the most awesome thought.  Yahweh has examined us (me). To examine is to inspect closely/thoroughly, in order to determine their nature or condition. Our nature: what we are drawn to and our condition: the state that we are in. The beautiful part is because he knows our nature, he can leverage his power to overcome it and because he knows the condition we are in, he can improve it. He can make it better. He is always working to improve our nature and condition so that each day we are more and more like him.

Know: wat•te•da:  know by experience. It’s not the know as in “I know of (insert famous person name here)” but the knowing of someone that time is spent with.

When Yahweh says in the end to some people, “I know you not”, it’s not that he doesn’t know who they are and their desires. He still knew their names and everything in the heads, but it’s actually more a reflection on their relationship. They didn’t get to know Yahweh intimately by willingly sharing themselves. So he knows because he knows everything, but he doesn’t know them intimately because they did not tell him. It’s like you knowing my favourite colour is black because you see me always wearing black. But then one day you and I start talking and I tell you that I love black and why I love it. And doing that creates that personal connection that takes knowing to the level that God desires. That’s the other know that is prevalent in scripture: us knowing Yahweh. 

Hosea 6:3 – Let’s learn about the Lord. Let’s get to know the Lord. He will come to us as sure as the morning comes. He will come to us like the autumn rains and the spring rains that water the ground.

To learn about Yahweh: that’s a head thing. About him. Almost just circling around him will stop you seeing him, you know of him. You know and accept that he’s there. There’s nothing wrong with this type of knowing, but then we need to step into his presence and know Yahweh intimately. That’s a heart thing. You share. He shares. Heart to heart. Wow. Arrrmm.

The deepest intimacy comes when we desire to know Yahweh also. When we decide to reciprocate what he started and every time it pulls up the bonds tighter together. Thank you for inviting us into your awesome presence. Thank you for showing us an example of love that we can follow. Thank you for who you are. 

Steph just came into mind. Yahweh I lift her and family to you. May they know you intimately and be healed. It’s not a head thing but a heart thing. 

Yahweh, thank you for the reminder that in this season (in all seasons actually, but especially in this season), you are calling me to know you. To feel you. To draw close to you. It’s not about what others see. It’s not about physical progress (though that may happen), but it’s about me and you. Heart to heart. Not gonna lie, this is both exciting and scary because (backtrack). Sigh. To know you is to love you. It’s not scary anymore. And it’s amazing how you work and to feel you working in me. Thank you for loving me so that I can love you. 

Last night, this morning, my thoughts kept going where I didn’t want to go. I don’t want to think about Jeffers but he’s been on my mind. And I do things: I read, I type, I pray and still he persists. Yahweh, whatever is going on, I pray for your leading and protection. I ask for my heart to be free. I pray that whatever choices he makes would be honourable to you. I don’t want the connection. I need to be free. Yahweh, show me what I need to do to be free. I release my heart to you. It is yours. 

Sigh. Today almost feels like a step back and I’m thinking that typing up the journal entries yesterday has triggered something. I need to untrigger it. Yahweh, you are my shepherd. I think I need to not type up anymore today. It will be okay.

I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength (rinse and repeat). I can do all things through you including being free. I can be filled through you, I can be productive through you. I am healed to you. What is past is over. What is tomorrow is unseen but you have given me today: to live. Thank you for today, thank you for provision.

Yahweh, what am I here to do?

Huh. I confess: this is one of the hardest things for me to do. To rest. To rest in you: it goes beyond trust in a way, because this is actual rest you’re asking of me, and I’ve always been on the go. Always anxious to move on, I almost want to ask if the rest period is for the entire year. But, arrrrmmmm I might get a spiritual tap. Thank you for calming my spirit. Thank you. 

To rest in you:

1. I need to call on you at all times and listen to you. 
2. Trust the future to you. 
3. Follow where you lead and if for a while the cloud is standing still, then I must stand still.
4. Did I mention trust you? Know that you desire what is good. 

Go make your mattress cover and  bake your cake. Lol. Love you. Thank you.