Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

Yesterday I watched a sermon from Steven Furtick which he reframed the world’s ‘new you’, to God’s ‘knew you’. His message inspired me to spend this week diving into us knowing God and being known by Him.

We’ll begin our dive with seeking to understand the significance of being knew by God.

Today’s scripture, Jeremiah 1:5 (NLT) shares…
[5] “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”

And a companion scripture, Romans 8:29 (NLT) testifies…
[29] For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

Consider…
Is there anyone in your life that you thoroughly know? I mean you know there innermost thoughts and motivation? Before you say yourself, Jeremiah 17:9-10 (NLT) declares…
[9] “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? [10] But I, the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.”

Based on this verse I’ll ask, do you really know yourself?

Personally, I have had the Apostle Paul Romans 7:15 (NLT) self-talk many times…
[15] I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.

I believe others reading this have the same self-talk too. So again I ask, do you really know yourself?

In Ancient Greece, the philosopher Socrates famously declared that the unexamined life was not worth living. Asked to sum up what all philosophical commandments could be reduced to, he replied: ‘Know yourself. ‘

Many people spend their life pursuing Socrates’ philosophy of self-discovery. However as believers in Jesus Christ we should have a different philosophical pursuit, which is ‘Know Him who knew you’. Indeed, if we want to better understand who we are, we must know our Creator! He alone knows His purpose for making us.

Psalms 139:13-17 (NLT) declares…
[13] You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. [14] Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. [15] You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. [16] You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. [17] How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!

Regardless of how much some people believe they’re self-made, the Psalmist admits what everyone should, God made us. In fact I like what Psalms 100:3 (NLT) tells us…
[3] Acknowledge that the LORD is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Not only did God make us, we belong to Him!

The reason acknowledging God made us is so important is because it reframes our picture of ourselves, especially our flaws. Like Kierra Sheard sings…

My flaws
You love, you love my flaws
Think they make me beautiful
You don’t see them as flaws at all
That’s why
That’s why, that’s why I love you
‘Cause you are, you are the one who
The one who loves my flaws

There’s something liberating about knowing that our Creator knows our flaws.

Here’s the link I think we miss, our flaws/weaknesses activate God’s grace. Recall what Paul realized in 2 Corinthians 12:9 (ERV), when he wrote…
[9] But the Lord said, “My grace is all you need. Only when you are weak can everything be done completely by my power.” So I will gladly boast about my weaknesses. Then Christ’s power can stay in me.

God’s grace is all we need! And God wants us to do everything in His power.

God doesn’t want us to be self-sufficient, He wants us to be ‘Him-dependent’.

In addition to our physical limitations, God also knows our heart issues.

Psalms 139:1 (NLT) declares…
[1] O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.

Remember we read earlier from Jeremiah 17 that only God knows our hearts. As I consider that passage along with Psalm 139:1, I am convinced that despite what we think, we don’t fully know our hearts the way we think we do.

For example, we think we know how we would respond to tragedy, temptation, or trials based on the season of life we’re in. But imagine being Job whose world progressively crumbled by no fault of his own. Even this blessed man of Life integrity reached his limit and questioned God.

Or how about Peter, we know that he believed that he would never let Jesus down, yet Matthew 26:74-75 (NLT) shares…
[74] Peter swore, “A curse on me if I’m lying—I don’t know the man!” And immediately the rooster crowed. [75] Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And he went away, weeping bitterly.

Don’t you think both Job and Peter thought they had strong hearts for God? Can’t you also see the weaknesses revealed in both of their hearts? You see our hearts are susceptible to outside influences, which is why Proverbs 4:23 (NLT) advises…
[23] Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

The fact is our heart is the most vulnerable part of our body.

Perhaps that’s why Ephesians 6:12-14 (KJV) exhorts us to cover our hearts with righteousness held up by truth in the battle against spiritual wickedness…
[12] For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. [13] Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. [14] Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

You see external forces want to convince us that we have bad hearts, but God wants us to remember that He makes our hearts right.

The Psalmist in Psalms 51:10 (NLT) understood this when he prayed…
[10] Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.

You see because God knows our hearts, He inspired the encouragement of Ezekiel 36:26-27 (NLT) which promises…
[26] And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. [27] And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.

As I write this the Holy Spirit is showing me the heart is like a computer’s operating system. It comes with bugs that need routine patches to operate more efficiently and effectively in handling all the programs going on around it. That’s what God is doing with us, upgrading us to His Holy and Righteous standard to glorify Him in this world we live in.

So today, despite all the things that seem wrong with you and me, remember God sees what’s right and is continually peeling back the layers of our flaws to reveal what we will be. Like 1 John 3:2-3 (NLT) promises…
[2] Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. [3] And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure.

Therefore don’t get fixated on discovering who you are, rather focus on becoming like Jesus who God chose you to be. (Romans 8:29)

Since God knows us, we should spend our time learning and becoming what He knows!

I will leave you with one final thought from Pastor Furtick’s message…

Get out of the trap of being the new you
Step off of the treadmill of pursuing the future you
Focus on the Truth of the known you

Today’s song is…
Known

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)