We often talk about knowing God, but does God know you?
God knows everything and everyone, but he doesn’t know everyone in the same way, that is, in the same loving way.
For example, the Bible says, “If anyone loves God, he is known by God.” (1 Corinthians 8:3 ESV).
Notice that there is a way of knowing that God has only for people who love him. If—if—anyone loves God, he is known by God, it says.
What kind of special knowing does God have for those he loves and who love him?
Does God know you?
God speaks of certain people with approval. He receives and accepts them. For instance, in response to a request, God told Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name” (Exodus 33:17 ESV).
Although God knows everyone’s name, he is saying to Moses that he knows Moses as a friend. We might put it this way: we’re on a first-name basis. This kind of love is the love marked by favor, familiarity, and approval.
I live in a four-tower apartment complex with some 2,500 residents and several dozen employees. I can’t meet or know everyone, of course. When I walk down the long hallway connecting the four towers, there are many people I don’t recognize, some I recognize but don’t know yet, and others that I have met and know their names. When I’m in the hallway, I’m looking for the people I know. When I see them, I make it a point to smile, greet them, and visit when possible. My attitude toward the people I know is different than that toward strangers; it’s marked by more favor and friendliness, more love.
In some ways, this is how God knows the people of the world. God knows and loves everyone in a way, but he knows and loves his people in a greater way.
The privilege of being known
Obviously this is a great honor. Imagine getting a new job at a company with 1,000 employees, and in your first month on the job there is an all-company meeting. When you arrive at the large auditorium and check in, you receive instructions to go to a particular room before the first general session in order to meet some of the company leaders.
Immediately you feel stress, for the leaders of your company are highly respected not only in your company but throughout the profession. Your company’s CEO has written numerous books that are standard works in the field, and he speaks in conferences around the world. He is a multi-multi millionaire. You have looked up to him for years. You are an entry-level employee, and this will be the most important hour in your networking life.
When you walk into the room, to your astonishment the first person to welcome you is the CEO . To your greater astonishment, he greets you by name and remarks favorably on your education and background. You are so taken back, that you can only think to ask, “How do you know me?”
“I know you,” responds the CEO. “I know you well. In fact, I read your resume. I worked with the HR department in selecting you. I’m very careful about who we hire to be a part of the team. I want you to sit at my table and have breakfast with me.”
Later, after breakfast, in the general session of 1,000 employees, the CEO again surprises you when in his vision talk he starts out by saying, “I want to welcome <your name> as a new employee this month. I am excited to have him on our team, and I believe he will do a great job for us.”
Wow! Would you feel special? To be known by name by the owner of the company. To have him regard you as a valuable member of the team. To be greeted by name by him when he sees you in the hallway.
Knowing brings significance
To be known, truly known, by an important person is a wonderful feeling. It gives a feeling of value and significance. But being known by God is infinitely more wonderful. To be known approvingly by God is the ultimate meaning and significance of any person. In the eyes of every person in the world, you could be regarded as a nobody, but if God knows you—knows you as only he can—you are important. You have value.
Are you a follower of Jesus? Then God knows you. Knows you! Knows you by name, knows you as a friend, knows you as a father who loves you. This knowing is his choice. And now for the rest of eternity you get to know him better and better. To know and be known in pure love. As Paul writes, “Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12 ESV).
Our way and God’s way
Our way: Fallen people want to be known by people, not by God. Because of their sins, fallen people prefer to hide from God, to walk in darkness.
God’s way: In love, the Lord honors you by deigning to know you, like a king leaving the throne room to walk among the common people, learn their names, and become their friends. He gives you the privilege of being known by him.
Life principle: Meaning and significance in life comes from knowing that God chooses to stoop down and know you. (see Psalm 139)
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)