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God Knows Me

12/27/2025

Memory – Psalm 139.1-3 O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.

It is little wonder that the book of the Psalms is far and away the most popular book in the Bible. I find the universal themes of the psalms often give voice to my own heart’s thoughts and meditations. There is virtually no experience in life that is not touched on the leitmotifs found in this wonderful collection of poetry and hymns. Psalm 139 is an intensely personal reflection on the loving, all-knowing, ever-present, providential care of God. David acknowledges that though he is utterly transparent before God, yet, in his heart he delights in the Lord because he knows that he is merciful, despite being familiar with all David’s weakness and frailty. The bottom line for David is his absolute trust in God’s covenantal love for him. Remember David’s comment in Psalm 37.3-6: Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.

Those who fear God attempt to conceal sin in their hearts (Job 31.32). Such is not the case with the psalmist Davidwho emphatically delights in his affirmation of God’s infinite knowledge and invites the cleansing work of God’s Spirit(cf. the penitential Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, also 102, 130). David’s opening declaration is mirrored by his closing supplication; namely, because the Lord knows him, having searched him through and through, he yields to God’s sovereign rule in his heart. Moreover, David invites God to reveal the results of that search so that he might be holy and led in the way everlasting.

What is true of David the author of Psalm 139 who writes of relationship with God, is true of everyone. Nothing is hidden from God; God sees deeply into the heart of everyone. He knows what you are thinking before you utter a word. In Job we read: His eyes are on the ways of men; he sees their every step. There is no dark place, no deep shadow, where evildoers can hide (Job 34.21). God knows the hearts of the righteous and the hearts of sinners. The author of Hebrews writes: Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account (4.13).

Knowing what is in my own heart and I suspect yours as well, this soul-searching scrutiny may be a frightening thought. Yet, as the Spirit of God is at work within us prodding us to delight in him, I think the only way to make progress in faith is to open oneself to the penetrating and cleansing inquiry of the Spirit. God desires that believers have a heart fully devoted to him. Thus, honesty and transparency about personal inability, weakness and sin is an invitation for the refining fire of the Spirit to transform one’s life. The Bible bears witness to many such people. Caleb, like David, was such a man. The Lord acknowledged Caleb’s unique spirit in Numbers 14.24, “my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly” (cp. Joshua 14.14). The biblical principle is clear: the Lord looks to bless those whose hearts are fully committed to him. David opens his Psalm with a declaration that God knows him, and he closes his Psalm with an invitation for God to further examine his heart: Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

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This is Love

12/19/2025

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Memory – 1 John 3.16-18 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth

What is the greatest commandment? Love for God! What is the second greatest commandment? Love for people (cf. Matthew 22.36-40). It seems obvious that somewhere in all this God is trying to make a point. What follows are some aphorisms, poems, quotes, stories that I’ve picked up along the way which have helped me internalize these truths. As I look to the end of life I am very much aware that we no more than step out of the cradle than we prepare to step into the grave. In this very brief span of time we will prove how much we have grown in love. The true measure of a life well-spent is how well you love people. Faith has priority in salvation, but love is preeminent. It is one of the great ironies of life that more than any other single thing people need to be loved, but until they are transformed by love they are unlovable. God loves us as we are so we can love others as they are. It is a paradox that in life we all need love, but in order to receive it you have to give it.

In T.S. Eliot’s play the “Cocktail Party” a man under the influence of alcohol was leaning over the shoulder of a psychiatrist and pleads with him, “Please make me feel important.” Of this attitude C.S. Lewis writes: “… such people simply want friends and can never make any. The very condition of having friends is that you should want something else besides friends.”

"If the bud of a flower is injured by hostile forces, like an unseasonable frost, it will not open. So, too, a person who is without the warm encouragement of love, will remain closed in on himself. Generally speaking, the world cares nothing about church doctrine, or for that matter, it doesn’t care much about truth, but about love it cares more than anything else."

The poet Archibald MacLeish has noted that men are affected more by symbols than by ideas. The symbol of loneliness, he says is two lights above the sea; the symbol of grief is a solitary figure standing in a doorway. The symbol of Christ in this world is the Christian.
Years ago I came across this poem as I was thinking about a lifelong friend I had not seen in a long time.

Around the corner I have a friend,
In this great city that has no end,
yet days go by and weeks rush on,
And before I know it, a year is gone.
And I never see my old friend’s face,.
He knows I like him just as well
As in the days when I rang his bell
And he rang mine.  We were younger then,
And now we are busy, tired more:
Tired with playing a foolish game,
Tired of trying to make a name.
"Tomorrow," I say, "I will call on Jim
just to show that I am thinking of him."
But tomorrow comes - and tomorrow goes,
And the distance between us grows and grows.
Around the corner! yet, miles away...
"here's a telegram, sire"... "Jim died today."
And that's what we get and deserve in the end:
Around the corner; a vanished friend.

Nehemiah Gore - I met him only once.  As a student pastor in Ship Bottom, New Jersey, I had driven to Philadelphia to make a hospital visiting on a member of my church. The wife of the man who was hospitalized mentioned I might enjoy meeting a man in a room down the hall.  How right she was.  Nehemiah Gore, that was his name and how fitting a name it was too.  He was a pastor about seventy years old who had come to that very hospital to visit one of his own parishioners'.  As he walked out of the hospital to the street a car screeched to a stop in front of him and several young men jump out of the car and severely beat him taking his wallet which contained only a few dollars. They left him lying mortally wounded on the curb with two broken arms, a broken leg and gaping wounds from the knife they had repeatedly plunged into his chest.  As I spoke with him to try and lift his spirits, I found his spirit did not need lifting. He was already living in the heavenly kingdom. He had been praying for the love and mercies of God to minister to his assailants. God granted me the privilege that afternoon to fellowship with one of His servants and to gain some marvelous insight into the proper love and forgiveness that is part and parcel of God's children. Nehemiah Gore – he was welled named, The Compassion of Yahweh.

                        Love seeks not itself to please,
                        Nor for itself hath any care;
                        But for another gives its ease,
                        And builds a Heaven in Hell’s despair.    Wm Blake

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Children of God

12/12/2025

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Memory – John 1.12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

We are in the third week of Advent, and the church is largely focusing on the birth narratives of Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. It is worth noting that the apostle John also speaks of the incarnation. From the outset of his Gospel John focuses on the Deity of Jesus. He opens his Gospel reference to Genesis and creation: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John creates a sense of wonder and awe at the majesty of God with his description of the incarnation and in verse 14 makes an implicit reference to God’s physical presence with Moses and the Israelites in their desert wanderings: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1.14 cf. Exodus 40.34—38). The word dwelt (tent or tabernacle skenoo – Greek) refers to God living with man; in a metaphorical sense it foreshadows the return to the innocence of Adam and Eve’s relationship with God in the garden of Eden.

This relationship comes about by means of faith. Throughout his Gospel John refers to believing in Jesus (pisteou – Greek to have faith or to trust). The apostle uses “to believe” as an active verb; that is, it is not merely intellectual assent or passive agreement. Rather, to believe results in a compelling indwelling of God’s Spirit (If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him John 14.23). For John this action is summarized in love. In the upper room when Jesus observed the Passover meal with his disciples, he gave them this charge: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13.34-35). We enter into a relationship with God not because we love him and he responds, but because he first loves us and draws us to himself: In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation [a sacrificial act of Christ’s atoning work to appease God] for our sins (1 John 4.10).

The consequence of being the recipient of God’s love is that we become children of God. Fundamentally, it is a filial relationship. It is why in some Christian circles people refer to each other as brothers or sisters; in a Christian context that is exactly the case. Again, John writes: See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure (1 John 3.1-3). One possible takeaway from this passage is the importance of thankfulness that God loves you and is at work within you drawing others to Himself. A loving spirit is contagious, and the love of God is at work within you.

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The Peace of God

12/6/2025

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Memory – Philippians 4.4-7 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Keep in mind that Paul is writing from Rome where he was confined for approximately two years under house arrest. Prior to his arrival in Rome he spent a little over two years in prison under the rule of Governor Felix in Caesarea (in total Paul spent about five years in prison). At the time of writing this letter it is unlikely that Paul had any realistic expectation when his case would be brought to trial. Yet, he encourages the believers in Philippi to rejoice in the Lord. Lest they misunderstand him he repeats himself again I will say, rejoice. He goes on to say let your gentleness [reasonableness] be known to everyone. Such behavior is counter-cultural and counter-intuitive. The attitude is rooted in Christ who is at work within their hearts. Compare this with Jesus’ statement in the sermon on the mount, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth (Matthew 5.5). This meekness is not a passivity but a gentleness of spirit; fundamentally it is a meekness toward God; a disposition of spirit wherein the Christian accepts God’s providential work without disputing or resisting.

In the Old Testament, the meek are those who rely on God rather than their own strength. For example, David’s response to Shimei cursing him as he flees Jerusalem after his son, Absalom’s rebellion. And David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Behold, my own son seeks my life; how much more now may this Benjaminite! Leave him alone, and let him curse, for the Lord has told him to. It may be that the Lord will look on the wrong done to me, and that the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing today” (2 Samuel 16.11-12). Read also the extraordinary account of Jonathan and his armor bearer fighting with just one sword between them an entire garrison of fully armed Philistines: Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord will work for us, for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few” (1 Samuel 14.6).

So, whatever your situation, do not be anxious about anything. Trust the Lord and commit your way to Him; in prayer and a with thankful heart let your requests be known to God. He will give you a calm assurance that all will be well in the end. Again, it is a counter-intuitive truth of Scripture. It is as Paul says a peace that surpasses all understanding. The source of this peace is Christ and maintaining your focus on him. I love the passage in 2 Corinthians 4.16-18, So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day, for this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Here are a few takeaways from this text (also, a couple thoughts from next week’s meditation).

Resolve to rejoice in the Lord – your ultimate grounding in joy is relational not situational.
Resolve to be known for gentleness.
Resolve not to be anxious about anything but to have quiet time alone with God.
Resolve to think holy thoughts – too many people focus on destructive thoughts without reflecting on how those thoughts damage the soul. In “The Life of God in the Soul of Man” Henry Scougal writes, “The worth and excellency of the soul is measured by the object of its love.”
Resolve to learn the secret of contentment. True contentment is experientially learned being exposed to both ease and adversity. Take care not to confuse contentment with self-sufficiency.
Resolve to grow in the grace of Christian gratitude and courtesy.

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My Compline

In the liturgrical tradition the compline is the last office of prayer and reflection for the day and it tends to be a contemplative devotion that emphasizes spiritual peace.

God Knows Me

This is Love

Children of God

The Peace of God

My Compline

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