Fully Known, Fully Loved
Psalm 139:1
“O Lord, you have searched me and known me!”
This past year I was dealing with two really hard things, things I kept to myself for the most part, allowing them to occupy my mind and cause me anxiety. I was scared to tell others because I was worried it could change their view of certain people, or felt like if I shared I was just gossiping and it was better for me to just work through it on my own. In deciding not to share I was keeping a significant thing in my life from people who knew me best and therefore I never felt like they really knew me in that season. I felt like anytime I was with them I was not fully myself because I was hiding something that was affecting me deeply. I felt like they did not understand me and that hindered my relationship with some of my friends. In that season more than anything I wanted to be known and loved.
Has there ever been a time in your relationships or friendships where there seemed to be a disconnect because someone didn’t fully know you? Have you ever kept something from a friend because you feared they wouldn’t love you if they knew that thing about you? Tim Keller famously said, “To be fully known and not loved is our greatest fear.” How could someone possibly know everything about you, all your sin and brokenness and flaws, and still love you? We fear someone not loving us if they really knew us, and when we feel fully loved we tell ourselves that would not be the case if only they knew this or that about us. Keller finishes his quote saying, “But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.” While we may be scared for man to know all of our brokenness, we should exchange our desire for man to fully know us to comfort that Christ perfectly loves us while fully knowing us.
Not only does Christ fully know us, He knew us before the beginning of time. He knew us and loved us so much to write each of us our own story and knowing every sin we have committed and every sin we will commit, he still saw fit to send His Son for us. Psalm 139 is full of encouraging verses in regard to this matter.
Psalm 139:3-6 “You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.”
God has an intimate understanding of all His creation. We never have to fear Him not understanding.
Psalm 139:14 “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
With God as our creator, we need not fear what man thinks of us because we are intricately woven by God. All the parts of me that I hide from others God knows and loves me still.
Do not seek the approval of man but seek a relationship with the one who fully knows and fully loves you! Your friendships on earth can never fully satisfy. The only one who can truly and fully understand all of you, loves you more than anyone that could try to understand you to that extent.