Eugene Peterson once commented, “The central item in the religious life isn't my knowledge of God but his knowledge of me.” What matters most for you, for me, for our friends and neighbors is not that we figure out who we are or what we are made for, but that we know that God already knows. And His knowledge is not merely a designer’s knowledge of his design, but knowledge of presence. His knowing of us comes from His ever being with us. To know we are known—crafted and pursued—so intricately and intimately is truly too much to take in! Which is why we are encouraged through Psalm 139 to speak in prayer what is always true, so that the wonderful knowledge of being known might sink deeply into our hearts and be lived through our hands.
Let’s pray together with the psalmist,
Father, you investigate my life;
you get all the facts firsthand.
I’m an open book to you;
even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.
You know when I leave and when I get back;
I’m never out of your sight.
You know everything I’m going to say
before I start the first sentence.
I look behind me and you’re there,
then up ahead and you’re there, too—
your reassuring presence, coming and going.
This is too much, too wonderful—
I can’t take it all in!