1 You are always righteous, LORD, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? 2 You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their hearts. 3 Yet you know me, LORD; you see me and test my thoughts about you. Drag them off like sheep to be butchered! Set them apart for the day of slaughter!
I recently saw a photograph of Michelangelo's sculpture Moses, in which a close-up view showed a small bulging muscle on Moses' right arm. This muscle is the extensor digiti minimi, and the contraction only appears when someone lifts their little finger. Michelangelo, known as a master of intricate details, paid close attention to the human bodies he sculpted, adding intimate features nearly everyone else would miss. Michelangelo knew the human body in ways few other sculptors have, but the details he carved into granite were his attempts to reveal something deeper – the soul, the interior life of human beings. And of course, there, Michelangelo always fell short.
Only God knows the deepest realities of the human heart. Whatever we see of one another, no matter how attentive or insightful it might be, is only a shadow of the truth. But God sees deeper than the shadows. "You know me, LORD," the prophet Jeremiah said; "you see me" (12:3). God's knowledge of us isn't theoretical or cerebral. He doesn't observe us from a distance. Rather, He peers into the hidden realities of who we are. God knows the depths of our interior lives, even those things we struggle to understand ourselves.
No matter our struggles or what's going on in our hearts, God sees us and truly knows us.
Today’s Hymns:
God Only Knows
Tell It to Jesus
Scripture to Respond:
Psalm 139:1-2
(For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.)
1 You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
Luke 12:6-7
6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Reflection:
What makes you feel alone, isolated or unseen? How does it change things to realise that God knows you?
Prayer:
Dear God, this world can be a lonely place, but I'm astounded at how truly You know me. It fills me with wonder and joy.
Wong Wai Tung (Chief Executive Officer of The Great Wall Education Foundation)
