The Greatest Lover
“There is nothing more healing to the sinful heart than to be fully known and yet fully loved” (Ty Gibson).
Who knows you best? Your mum? Your best friend? Your partner?
We cherish those who know us intimately and yet love us, warts and all. We don’t have to contrive small talk or put on masks – we can just be ourselves.
In that moment when we feel most exposed and vulnerable, God says, “This is my beloved son/daughter, in whom I am well pleased… does anyone condemn you? I don’t condemn you. Go and become free from the things that hurt you and others…”
I have been reading the Book of Psalms and have been dwelling on Psalm 139 for a few weeks. Psalm 139 marvels at God’s omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence – but far from cowering from a God who is so all-encompassing, the speaker (King David) engages Him on a personal level and delights in their intimate relationship.
Psalm 139 New International Version (NIV)
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Even before we were born, we were cherished by God. He has always loved us as we are.
When David says “You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me,” he is not describing being cornered by God. The Hebrew word that is translated as “hem” or “enclosed” in English actually means “to guard a valuable object.”
We are precious to God. We are never alone, for He is always with us. No matter what we’re going through, His hand steadies us.
He thinks of us more often than the number of sand on the sea …
That is love.
This Valentine’s Day, let’s thank the One who loves us best for giving us the gift of love.
by: Jinha Kim
"But those who drink the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:14