Life-spark: God knows you completely. – John 1:43-51
When my son Jeremy was eleven, I took him archery hunting. I attracted the attention of a monster bull elk and it stopped only twenty yards from him. “Dad, I was scared! I was hiding in that Christmas tree. I could see him, but I’m so glad he couldn’t see me!”
A man named Nathanael was snuggled under a fig tree when his friend Phillip came to take him to meet Jesus. Meeting Nathaniel, Jesus promptly declared things about this stranger that sounded like He had known him all his life.
“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” John 1:48, NIV
Long before Google Earth could have helped Him zoom in on a fig tree in Israel, the Spirit revealed to Jesus not only Nathanael’s location, but his inner condition, his very character.
Jesus Christ knows us because He made us. The scripture says all things, including people, including you and I, were made for Him and through Him. (Romans 11:36) Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. John 1:3, NIV
God made us, like Him, with a desire to be known. The desire to be known by others is a big part of our relational nature.
And God knows us. He knows who we really are. Jesus gave Peter new news about himself (verse 42), and then He told Nathanael supposedly private things about himself. (verse 48) Over and over, Jesus told people unknown things about their character and potential, things about who they were meant to be and could be.
Since God knows me even better than I know myself, perhaps I should ask Him what He knows. Once I see what God sees in me, I’ll never be the same.
One minute life-challenge: It would be great to hear your experiences…it’s amazing how people hear God in so many different ways. If you would, please share how you felt God speaking to you. The testimony of others is rich, it helps people visualize that they too can hear God, if they listen.