Crazy Love

Known…  In the culture we live in, it is sometimes difficult to feel known.  We have numbers assigned to us for most every official dealing and often have to identify ourselves by them.  We call businesses and typically have to wade through several levels of numbers on our keypad to get to talk to another human being, and worse, sometimes we receive calls from automated lines.  We walk through our communities, and in the more populated ones it is pretty typical to have little eye contact, half of the issue being the avoidance from our own eyes.  When we do sit around tables or in rooms with those we love there is increasing probability that most of us are looking at our phones and texting away to keep contact with our friends while ignoring the opportunity of connection with the people closest to us.

I am struck this morning by the availability of the God of heaven.  In Exodus 33:17, even when His people had chosen to let other things take their attention, He has assured them that He knows them by name.  We have unlimited access to the Creator of the Universe; no small gift.  The benefits are astonishing.  Many books further through the Bible, and endless examples later we are still being assured of God’s attentive care.  In Matthew 6, Jesus is standing on a hillside, teaching us about the extravagant attention and care of a Father who knows us:

25 Here is the bottom line: do not worry about your life. Don’t worry about what you will eat or what you will drink. Don’t worry about how you clothe your body. Living is about more than merely eating, and the body is about more than dressing up. 26 Look at the birds in the sky. They do not store food for winter. They don’t plant gardens. They do not sow or reap—and yet, they are always fed because your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are even more precious to Him than a beautiful bird. If He looks after them, of course He will look after you. 27 Worrying does not do any good; who here can claim to add even an hour to his life by worrying?

28 Nor should you worry about clothes. Consider the lilies of the field and how they grow. They do not work or weave or sew, and yet their garments are stunning. 29 Even King Solomon, dressed in his most regal garb, was not as lovely as these lilies. 30 And think about grassy fields—the grasses are here now, but they will be dead by winter. And yet God adorns them so radiantly. How much more will He clothe you, you of little faith, you who have no trust?

31 So do not consume yourselves with questions: What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear? 32 Outsiders make themselves frantic over such questions; they don’t realize that your heavenly Father knows exactly what you need. 33 Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all these things will be given to you too. 34 So do not worry about tomorrow. Let tomorrow worry about itself. Living faithfully is a large enough task for today.

We are known by name and every need we have is understood thoroughly by the God who loves us lavishly.  We may too often be treated with the anonymity of a number, but we are never just another person to the Author of life and Lover of our soul.