Known by Him by Lisa Burkhardt Worley
Ever since I rededicated my life to Christ in 1993 after a devastating television career crash, I have spent almost thirty years trying to know God better, yet He’s still a mystery in many ways. That’s what makes the quest to know Him more intriguing.
But we do have many clues for understanding our Heavenly Father’s character. Some good ones can be found in Exodus 34 when the LORD allowed His glory to pass by Moses. He said, “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness, maintaining loving devotion to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers on their children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generations” (Exodus 34:6–7).
So we know God is a loving, compassionate, faithful, forgiving, patient and righteous Father who desires our obedience. Those are some great attributes that we can hold onto.
But we still want to know Him better, don’t we? We need more intel. But here’s the thing that I was reminded of this week. God wants to know us more than we want to know Him, as evidenced by the waffling in our faith at times and by the fact that we often place our “to do” list before Him. But even when we drift, he’s still at work in our lives.
When speaking to the Galatians, Paul was frustrated that the believers in Galatia had gone back to some old ways after giving their lives to God. He said, “Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist. So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world?” (Galatians 4:8–9)
What I love about this passage is the way Paul corrects himself, emphasizing that God knows them but they don’t really know God.
And that’s the way I feel even after all these years of study. God knows me much better than I know Him. He created me. Psalm 139:13 says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (NIV).
And that’s the purpose of today’s message to you. I want you to know that you are known by God. Your heavenly Father sees every minute of your life and knows you inside and out. He’s compassionate, faithful and loving and He has an open door policy. Because of the sacrifice Jesus made, you can enter his presence at any time—day or night. And He does want you to know Him better. Yes, there is a lot of mystery surrounding our heavenly Father, but He gives enough clues in His Word to paint a picture of His character—and it’s good—so good.