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God Knows Us Full Well

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“God Knows Us Full Well”

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 (139:14) – September 7, 2025

If you look at the news online, or on television, or listen to the radio or podcasts, many people often look for knowledgeable experts. Experts in their field or craft. People who know things. Think about it: cooking shows have culinary experts, home repair shows have building experts, news reports have experts in various fields, talk shows have behavioral experts to help solve the relationship problems of society, even newspapers have horoscopes written by psychics who are supposedly experts in astrology. Expert opinions!

            This craving for information, for people who know about things … I am afraid that I get sucked right into it. I go to people who are experts in their fields, and try to pick their brains and get what information I can, so I can masquerade as a sort of an expert, too. I like to think I know about things. And, I do. I know lots of things. I know lots about how to be a chaplain, and about music, and about the Bible, but that doesn’t hold a candle to the amount God knows! 

            God knows—now there is an expert opinion. Let’s look at the scripture reading for today. “O LORD, You have searched me and known me, You know when I sit down and when I rise up, You discern my thought from far away.” That truly is knowing. God knows every part of me. King David wrote this psalm many centuries ago, and its message still strikes home and hits my heart with penetrating directness.

            These verses from this psalm are among the most direct and poetic description of God’s omniscience in the whole Bible. Omniscience. Knowing absolutely everything. That’s a pretty scary thought, if we sit down and think about it.  It’s a good thing that God is loving, caring and merciful. We just have a shadow of understanding about how God knows us, yet it’s a loving, caring and intimate knowing. The omniscience of our knowing by our heavenly Father.

            When a word is repeated in a passage in the Bible, that is a way of underlining that word, indicating that word is particularly important. The Hebrew word “yada,” or “to know,” appears in today’s reading four times. The emphasis of this rich biblical word, this “concept of ‘knowledge’ is a critical element of meaningful relationship. We are to know God, just as God knows us.” [1]

            When you and I contemplate God, the totality, the tremendous experience of God’s knowledge is just “too wonderful” for us! That is us, as limited humans, trying to understand and contemplate the Lord. That is the eternal God who created the heavens and the earth! We read here in Psalm 139 that God’s capacity for knowing is utterly beyond comprehension, so far beyond us limited humans that we feel like we are reaching up to touch the moon, much less the stars in the sky. King David said, “so high that I cannot attain it,” in verse 6. And yet – God wants to be known! Known by us.

            This Sunday is when the church in Scotland celebrates the beginning of the season of Creation, when we celebrate God creating the world, the galaxy, the whole universe. As we contemplate God’s vast creative power, let us consider the creation of a single human life. Our psalmist considers it, too! Verse 13 says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” This is a glimpse of the psalmist’s understanding of the nature of God, of knowing God!

“This points to a God whose love for God’s own creation extends to concern, since this human creation is finite and therefore not perfect. Yet, it does not lessen but instead heightens the amazing and magnificent artistry of God’s creation. Indeed, this recognition becomes reason for praising God and affirming the self’s ultimate worth in the sight of God (v. 14).” [2]

God knows. God knows my circumstances, knows whether I’m sitting or getting up or lying down. God even knows what I’m thinking, before I can say a word. Talk about being an expert! The Lord knows my psychological makeup, my emotions and my heart, so much better than I do myself.

            It’s a good thing to get to know ourselves. It’s a worthy study, and one that would be useful in helping us to understand others. I like to tell myself that I know myself pretty well. I’ve seen a therapist for a number of years who has helped me come to understand my own thoughts and emotions better. He’s helped me to understand how I relate to others and why I act and react in certain ways. At times, after years of therapy, I may fancy myself somewhat of an expert on myself. But in reality, I am not. Sometimes I may think I am, but I’m just fooling myself.

            God knows everything about me, too. Everything. God knows all the flaws, all the rough spots, every praiseworthy feature as well as everything that isn’t. And–here’s the amazing part–God loves me anyway! Even with all that intimate knowledge about every single aspect of our character as well as our character flaws, God loves us anyway!

And, it isn’t just all about me. God knows each of us in the same way. He knows each one of you, intimately, too. The Lord has searched you and known you, and is acquainted with all your ways. And, God loves each of us, even more intensely than we can possibly imagine.

            Sometimes, certain authors have a way of capturing an idea in a special way. It’s that way with Max Lucado, a recent Christian author for both children and adults. I know I have referenced this before, and it’s just so good that I have to quote it again! This is a quote from Prayer: A Heavenly Invitation, which describes just the idea I’ve been trying to communicate.

            ”If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, He’ll listen. He can live anywhere in the universe, and He chose your heart. And the Christmas gift He sent you in Bethlehem? Face it, friend. He’s crazy about you.” [3]

            Friends, God knows all about us, and He loves us anyway. What else can we do but fall on our knees before God in praise, thanksgiving and adoration? Thank God for His boundless love towards you and towards me.

            Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/second-sunday-after-epiphany-2/commentary-on-psalm-1391-6-13-18-2

[2] http://www.theafricanamericanlectionary.org/PopupLectionaryReading.asp?LRID=27

[3] Prayer: A Heavenly Invitation – Max Lucado

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God Says, “Don’t Be Afraid!”

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God Says, “Don’t Be Afraid!”

Jeremiah 1:4-10 (1:5) – August 24, 2025

Babies can be wonderful. The coming of a baby into the world is certainly a big event, with all the attendant hustle and bustle, all of the excitement and exhaustion. With all the babies that have been born into this world over the millenia, we’re going to look at one baby in particular … the prophet Jeremiah.

Here in the first chapter of Jeremiah, we can take a peek at God’s perspective on the birth of a baby. When we look at verse 1:4, the LORD is saying to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” Wow. God knew Jeremiah before Jeremiah was just a tiny group of cells, growing inside of his mother’s uterus. Double wow. The same thing could be said about countless other people, too. God knew me before I was born. The Lord knew everyone in this room, too. It is truly awesome to think about how intimately God knows each one of us.

King David talks about this in Psalm 139. We get another glimpse at how intimately God is acquainted with each one of us. Starting at verse 13, “For it was You who formed my inward parts, You knit me together in my mother’s womb. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.” We can see that God surely knows us, far better than we know ourselves.

We are celebrating going back to school this Sunday. God knows each and every student who is returning to school, and I believe the Lord is watching over every school, every training program, and all internships, all over the world. When I prayed the Blessing of the Backpacks, I was thinking of not only the students associated with this church, but all students, across this country and in the whole wide world. Bless each one!

Which brings me back to the young Jeremiah. This is the beginning, the first chapter of his very challenging prophetic book. Our Scripture reading today is Jeremiah’s call story, when he was just a young teenager. He was not even a grown-up! And, God called out Jeremiah for a special purpose, as we can see: “7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.”

 We can all remember times at school when certain kids were picked on. Perhaps even you or a friend or brother or sister of yours was called names! Usually, to establish some sort of pecking order in the classroom. “Still, most name calling makes people look ‘less’ in the eyes of people around them.” [1]  What were – what are – some of those names? Sadly, I can identify some of the names, like wimp, bully, jock, geek, baby, sissy, cry-baby, bird brain, smarty pants, etc. that are hurled at others.

Just think of how differently people look and feel when we say instead “child of God.” Because, that is exactly what each of us is! Each one of us is a unique creation of God, and each one of us is fearfully and wonderfully made! And, God knows each of us, intimately!

God mentions all this to Jeremiah, because God was watching Jeremiah from the very beginning. And, God saw Jeremiah even before he was born, and God appointed him a prophet, “This, of course, came as startling news to Jeremiah who, apparently, had not had any previous inkling that this could be his life’s work. Maybe it did not even sound that good to him, either. In any event, he starts to do what any number of divinely appointed figures in the Bible have done: he resists the call. He makes up an excuse.” [2]

We can see that Jeremiah did not feel ready to do what God wanted.  “I’m too young. I’m not a public speaker. What could a child like me have to say anyway, and who’d listen even if I tried? No, no, Sovereign God, you’ve got the wrong guy. I’m no one special!”

Be sure that God sometimes calls each of us to do things we feel we are not ready to do or that we are not brave enough to try. That happens in offices, on the factory or hospital floor, in all kinds of classes and just hanging out at school. “When it does, our challenge is to remember what God told Jeremiah: God had given him everything he needed and God would be with him helping him know what to do and say.” [3]

We can see from this Scripture reading that God touched Jeremiah. God put His hand on the teenager. Wow. What an awesome thing, having the God of the universe call on Jeremiah … and to think that God can put His hand on you and on me, too. But—funny thing—God doesn’t always call us in the way that we expect, or in the way that we want God to, but God is always there for us. God is always available to each of us. God calls each one of us, in God’s timing.

Here is an example of an everyday person who was called by God, saw a need, and stepped up to the plate. One of my commentators tells the story:

“Most people I have ever heard speaking of their start in vocations similar to those of Moses and Jeremiah begin not with a burning bush or an audible voice, but with a deep conviction that whatever else they may do, and no matter how they might or might not establish their bona fides, it is the task itself that draws them in. Eula Hall, who describes herself as a ‘hillbilly activist,’ an Appalachian woman with an eighth-grade education and a burning sense of purpose, told me many years ago how she came to found the Mud Creek Health Clinic in southeastern Kentucky to provide health care for the poor: “I looked, and I said to myself, ‘taint right like this, no medical service here, taint right. Somebody needs to act.’ I guess that somebody was me.” [4]

Often now in such a time as this which is like no other many of us have known, we would do well to hear Jeremiah’s call as our own. For God extends not only the call, but also promises to accompany us as we seek to follow. [5] It doesn’t matter our age, young, elderly, or in the middle. It doesn’t matter where we are, at home, school, work, or on the street.

Yes, God called Jeremiah. Yes, God touched Jeremiah. And God calls to each of us today. God was with Jeremiah through the difficult times of his life and ministry, and the Lord promises to be with us, too, through thick and thin, through the difficult times as well as the wonderful times. We can forever be thankful that God is always there with us.  Alleluia, amen!

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/2016/07/year-c-proper-16-21st-sunday-in.html

[2] https://cepreaching.org/commentary/2016-01-25/jeremiah-14-10/

[3] https://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/2016/07/year-c-proper-16-21st-sunday-in.html

[4] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fourth-sunday-after-epiphany-3/commentary-on-jeremiah-14-10

[5] https://dancingwiththeword.com/the-call-of-jeremiah-still-speaks/

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Goodness and Mercy!

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“Goodness and Mercy!”

Psalm 23 (23:5-6) – May 11, 2025

If you have been listening to the news at all this past week, you probably have heard: there is a new pope! Pope Leo XIV.

With the pageantry and voting by the Papal Conclave, during this last week the world has had many news stories and op-eds about the process of choosing a pope. As the Papal Conclave met, on Thursday the first North American pope was chosen, the former Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV. And, not only is there a new pope, but he was born on the south side of Chicago! A real home town boy, indeed.  

As we think about this recent selection of the head of the worldwide Catholic church, several general descriptions of a representative Pope, the leader of the church, come to my mind. Some popes can be described as more this way than others, but Pope Leo sounds like he may indeed be an example of all of these.

The pope is seen as a bridge, connecting the disparate countries and regions of the Catholic church, and a bridge reaching out to other faith communities around the world. Also, a champion of the poor, the hungry, the migrant and immigrant, the least of these. And, most importantly for us today, the Pope can be seen as a Shepherd among shepherds. The Chief Shepherd for the Catholic church, caring for his sheep.

Does that sound familiar? Our Scripture reading today is Psalm 23. This reading goes along with Shepherd Sunday. Like the other Scripture readings today, it reminds us that God is our Chief heavenly Shepherd. We highlight this gorgeous expression of trust in God, written by King David several thousand years ago. Countless people over the centuries have found comfort in grief, solace and encouragement in sorrow, in these words and reflections.

As we consider the reflections of King David, thinking back to his time shepherding his father’s sheep, this psalm displays “comfort and reassurance of God’s caring presence with us throughout life, whether we’re in the ‘green pastures’ of verse 2 or the ‘darkest valley’ of verse 4. That’s definitely the narrative that the psalmist intended to describe and celebrate and from which, millions of us have taken comfort for generations past.” [1]

One of my favorite commentators Carolyn Brown reminds us that “it is important to recognize that the Good Shepherd is a metaphor and children have a hard time with metaphors.  Studies show that most children do not develop the brain skill of transference that is necessary to understand metaphors until they are into adolescence.  But, the Bible and our worship is filled with metaphors.  I suspect that we help the children claim them when we carefully explore the details of a few key ones, expecting them to become familiar with the concrete part of the metaphor and some of the spiritual realities it embodies, but not fully making the connection until later.  The Good Shepherd is definitely one of those key metaphors. 

“Dr. Maria Montessori reports that while working in a children’s hospital she found that when she told sick children stories about the Good Shepherd using small wooden figures, they almost all grabbed the figure and held onto it “for keeps.”  So the Good Shepherd made sense to them in some way.” [2]

That is all very well, to talk about the Shepherd psalm as literature and as a metaphor. But, can I personalize this scripture reading, and get some meaning out of it for me? Where am I in this psalm? Can I see myself in this scripture passage?

Yes, I certainly can, and I hope you can, too.

I can recognize myself throughout. David compares himself to a sheep, here, and the Lord God is the Good Shepherd. So, when I look at this psalm, I find I have no problem seeing myself as a sheep, too. If you imagine with me here, we can all identify as sheep in the flock that Jesus our Good Shepherd herds and leads.

This Sunday is the fourth Sunday after Easter, which many faith traditions in the Christian church celebrate as “Good Shepherd Sunday.” This is the Sunday where we particularly highlight our Good Shepherd, our true and eternal shepherd Jesus.

When we consider the Latin word for shepherd, we come upon the word “pastor.” Catholics worldwide are rejoicing that they again have what they term as a “universal pastor here on earth in Pope Leo.” [3] From all accounts, as the former Father Robert Prevost served in Peru for several decades, he was a pastor and shepherd for the local churches among the rural parishes he served. He highlights social justice. He has a heart for the poor, the underserved, the migrant and immigrant, and the stranger among us – just as our Lord Jesus told us to do, in Matthew 25.  

In Psalm 23, the Good Shepherd knows the difficulties and the dangers of the land, as well as the easy places, the pleasant, sheltered places. That’s true, in our case, too. God knows where each of us has been, and where each of us is going. God knows our every step, and our every misstep, too. God goes ahead of us, to look over the terrain, and check out any adverse conditions. There are no surprises to God.

            So, is it any wonder that this psalm ends with the marvelous words “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” God knows where we have been, and God knows where each of us is going. And, God is right by our sides all the way, no matter what.

            Good, devout people of faith all over the world are praying today with hope and thanksgiving for this new church leader, Pope Leo XIV. We can join our prayers with theirs as we come to God on this Shepherd Sunday, remembering our Good Shepherd, our Lord Jesus. That is truly good news for all of us! Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/worship/weekly-worship/monthly/2025-may/sunday-11-may-2025-fourth-sunday-of-easter-year-c

[2] http://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/2015/03/year-b-fourth-sunday-of-easter-april-26.html

[3] https://nypost.com/2025/05/10/world-news/cardinal-dolan-reveals-how-future-pope-leo-xiv-impressed-him-at-the-conclave-and-predicts-what-kind-of-pontiff-he-will-be/