Thursday, October 8, 2015

He Knows Me and I Know Him


      I was watching a TV documentary last night. It was about FDR.

     Now I never knew FDR, (who, interestingly enough, was a 6th cousin of mine). I’m old, but not that old. But it so happens that when “the old man” died, there was an immense outpouring of public grief.

     Thousands lined the streets of Washington, D.C., and hundreds of signs were sprinkled across the crowd. One particularly poignant sign read,

      “I never knew FDR, but he knew me.” Such expressions reflected on the multiplied social programs he established to bring America out of The Depression. There were tears aplenty, and some sobbed unabashedly.

      Such an illustration reminds me that we serve a God Who knows us, and Who, as Stasi Eldredge said so eloquently, has a void in His heart that only one can fill.

         You are meant to fill a place in the heart of God that no one and nothing else can fill. Whoa. He longs for you.” (“Captivating” Eldredge, Pg. 120)

      But unlike the way FDR, (that great, but mortal man,) was characterized, relationship is not a one-way street. God has never been content just to know us. He longs for us to know Him. For we have a very similar “God-shaped hole” in our own hearts.

     This thing we call Christianity is so much more a relationship, than a religion. I have quoted the subsequent verse in the past, but it bears repeating here.

 “We have not a high priest Who cannot be touched by the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

“Let us come boldly to the Throne of Grace that we may receive mercy for our failures, and grace to help in the time of need.” (Hebrews 4:15,16, KJV)

     In the Old Testament God is characterized, (and none can deny it,) as knowing us; but there is that continual, unremitting struggle to know Him there. He seems Separate, Holy, but somehow still at odds with His creation.

     But that is forever remedied in The Testament of Grace. Now, (and none can deny it,) we can also know Him.

     Yes, My Dear Saviour knows me, but, (and this is wonderful,) I also have the inestimable privilege of knowing Him.

 By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "Unconventional Devotions" Copyright 2005

 

 

 

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