To Be Known
(Originally posted February 4, 2013)
A rare and special bond exists between our family and another family. We have, in the short few years that we have known one another, become family. We have shared a lifetime worth of memories compounded into just a few years, and built a foundation of friendship, trust, loyalty, accountability, and dependency with this family that makes it seem as if we have been friends for as long as we have been alive. We’ve watched as God provided both families with one another, right when we each needed it, and have stood amazed as He’s grown the relationships into a safe place, where we are free to be ourselves, share our struggles, grow together, repent together, love together, lean on one another, be completely comfortable, open and honest with one another. These are the types of friends that know before we say, and we know before they say. We fully know one another, by human standards. We just click so naturally. There exists not one ounce of uncertainty or insecurity among us. We love each other’s children almost like they are our own. We care for them, we defend them, we get upset when someone wrongs them. We are family. When our hearts break, their hearts break and vice versa. It’s a friendship that provides complete freedom to be who we are, where we are, and never ever wonder where we stand. A friendship that came so naturally, obviously written into a plan that we never knew existed for our lives, where forgiveness flows easily and without condemnation. A bond that developed immediately because of the easy “flow” between us and flourished quickly because of the time, energy, effort and love that both families poured into it. That type of comfort level in friendship is rare, and it’s a gift. We are blessed and thankful.
But even that relationship in all its preciousness, pales greatly in comparison to the relationship that we are offered by our Lord. He longs to be our most intimate relationship, but He won’t force himself on us. He asks us to come to him, to get to know him, to invest time, energy, effort and love into our relationship with Him. He longs for us to confide in Him, to be safe in Him, to lean on Him, to be completely open, honest and comfortable with Him. He promises complete freedom to be who we are, where we are, and never have to worry where we stand. He promises to love unconditionally and without condemnation. He promises that when we decide to esteem Him above all others, to allow him to become our closest friend that He will provide us with an intimacy in our relationship with Him that far outshines any earthly relationship that we will ever have. He promises to be our best friend.
In this life, we long to be known and to fully know someone. We seek out relationships on earth to satisfy and complete us. God already knows us. He created us. He has every part of our lives already planned out. There is nothing we can do that will shock him or cause Him to love us any less. He knows exactly what we need. God, however, doesn’t need us the way we need other relationships. No, he doesn't need us at all. Instead he WANTS us. He chooses us. Won’t we choose him?
"You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast."
-Psalm 139:1-10
A rare and special bond exists between our family and another family. We have, in the short few years that we have known one another, become family. We have shared a lifetime worth of memories compounded into just a few years, and built a foundation of friendship, trust, loyalty, accountability, and dependency with this family that makes it seem as if we have been friends for as long as we have been alive. We’ve watched as God provided both families with one another, right when we each needed it, and have stood amazed as He’s grown the relationships into a safe place, where we are free to be ourselves, share our struggles, grow together, repent together, love together, lean on one another, be completely comfortable, open and honest with one another. These are the types of friends that know before we say, and we know before they say. We fully know one another, by human standards. We just click so naturally. There exists not one ounce of uncertainty or insecurity among us. We love each other’s children almost like they are our own. We care for them, we defend them, we get upset when someone wrongs them. We are family. When our hearts break, their hearts break and vice versa. It’s a friendship that provides complete freedom to be who we are, where we are, and never ever wonder where we stand. A friendship that came so naturally, obviously written into a plan that we never knew existed for our lives, where forgiveness flows easily and without condemnation. A bond that developed immediately because of the easy “flow” between us and flourished quickly because of the time, energy, effort and love that both families poured into it. That type of comfort level in friendship is rare, and it’s a gift. We are blessed and thankful.
But even that relationship in all its preciousness, pales greatly in comparison to the relationship that we are offered by our Lord. He longs to be our most intimate relationship, but He won’t force himself on us. He asks us to come to him, to get to know him, to invest time, energy, effort and love into our relationship with Him. He longs for us to confide in Him, to be safe in Him, to lean on Him, to be completely open, honest and comfortable with Him. He promises complete freedom to be who we are, where we are, and never have to worry where we stand. He promises to love unconditionally and without condemnation. He promises that when we decide to esteem Him above all others, to allow him to become our closest friend that He will provide us with an intimacy in our relationship with Him that far outshines any earthly relationship that we will ever have. He promises to be our best friend.
In this life, we long to be known and to fully know someone. We seek out relationships on earth to satisfy and complete us. God already knows us. He created us. He has every part of our lives already planned out. There is nothing we can do that will shock him or cause Him to love us any less. He knows exactly what we need. God, however, doesn’t need us the way we need other relationships. No, he doesn't need us at all. Instead he WANTS us. He chooses us. Won’t we choose him?
"You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast."
-Psalm 139:1-10
Thank you Nicole for this devotion. Our family shares a "closer than family" bond with another. Your description here is exactly what we have experienced with them for 20+ years..... ever since we met them. I have shared your writing with them. It is truly a blessing to have this, and I know that it is both our dedication to the Lord in our lives that draws us to be so close.
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