#176 GOD KNOWS YOUR NAME 9-23-26
There is a difference between knowing about God and knowing God personally. We can know facts about His creation, read about His mighty acts, and speak His name, but God desires something deeper. He wants us to know Him as the living God who sees us, hears us, understands us, and walks with us through the circumstances of our individual lives.
The God of the Bible is not merely the God of nations and generations. He is your God, and He knows you personally.
In the Old Testament, God said to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you” (Jeremiah 1:5). Think about that. Before Jeremiah had a name that anyone else knew, God knew him. Before his parents could hold him, God knew him. Before he had accomplished anything, God knew who he was.
David expressed the same wonder in Psalm 139. He wrote, “O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off” (Psalm 139:1-2). God knew David’s movements, his thoughts, his words, and the deepest places of his life. David concluded, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it” (Psalm 139:6).
God knows the details.
He knows your name. He knows where you were born. He knows the circumstances surrounding your childhood. He knows the people who influenced you and the people who wounded you. He knows the prayers you prayed when nobody else was listening. He knows the tears you cried when you didn’t have words for them.
He even knows the seemingly insignificant things that have become part of your story. God knows what you watched on television in 1973. He knows the songs you heard, the places you went, the conversations you remember, and the moments you have completely forgotten. Nothing about your life is hidden from Him.
Why does God know so much about us?
Because He cares.
Jesus brought this truth into the New Testament with remarkable tenderness. He said, “Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God” (Luke 12:6). Then He made the application personal: “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Luke 12:7).
God’s knowledge is not cold information. It is the knowledge of love.
Jesus demonstrated this repeatedly. He knew Zacchaeus by name before Zacchaeus ever expected a personal encounter with Him. Jesus looked up into that tree and said, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house” (Luke 19:5). Zacchaeus was not merely another face in a crowd. Jesus knew him.
Jesus also knew Nathanael. When Nathanael came toward Him, Jesus said, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!” Nathanael asked, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you” (John 1:47-48).
That sentence should make us stop.
“I saw you.”
There are moments in our lives when nobody else sees us. God does.
There are burdens nobody else understands. God understands them.
There are battles we fight privately, memories we carry silently, and questions we cannot explain. God knows them all.
Jesus told His disciples, “Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). He does not merely know what we say. He knows what we need.
This is why knowing God personally changes the way we live. We are not wandering anonymously through an enormous universe. We are living before the God who knows us completely and loves us anyway.
Paul could therefore say, “Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are His’” (2 Timothy 2:19).
What a beautiful thought: The Lord knows those who are His.
You may feel forgotten by people. God has not forgotten you.
You may wonder whether your life matters. God knows your life intimately.
You may think your prayers disappear into the ceiling. They do not.
The God who knew Jeremiah before birth, who searched David and knew him completely, who saw Nathanael beneath the fig tree, and who called Zacchaeus by name is still God today.
So do not settle for merely knowing about God.
Know Him.
Talk to Him. Listen to His word. Walk with Him. Trust Him. Bring Him your joys, your failures, your questions, your memories, and your future.
The God who knows everything about you invites you to know Him.
And perhaps that is one of the most beautiful truths in all of the Bible: God knows you completely, and He still wants you near.
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Father, help us to know You personally and not merely know about You. Thank You for knowing every detail of our lives and caring about every burden we carry. Teach us to trust Your love, listen to Your word, and walk closely with You each day. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
BDD
