I was out with friends the other day and we are all bantering back and forth when one friend made a funny reference to a movie that I knew she had never seen. Knowing she was talking about something she only knew through hearsay, I called her out in a teasing way “How do you know?! Have you seen that movie?” She immediately stopped, looked at me, and said “How did you know?!” and then the most unexpected response. She started to tear up at the realization of being that known.
We all want to be known, like truly known.
How did I know my friend well enough to be able to confidently tease her? Intentionality. Spending time with her. Investing in our relationship. So many talks, coffee and lunch dates, moments spent laughing and having fun. Walking together through the nothings of life, and then walking together through the ups and downs.
It was wonderful and enjoyable, don’t get me wrong, but it was also very much intentional. If all of these moments together hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have known that she hates horror movies and won’t watch them. I wouldn’t know when I hear the rough day in her voice, or understand a cryptic text actually means she needs to talk asap, I wouldn’t know how to support her on a bad day, or the best way to make her laugh on a good day. I wouldn’t know her. She’s a friend worth having and I want to know her.
Our relationship with God is no different. We need to spend time with Him. And we need to be intentional about it. Studying His word and getting to know Him. The more time we spend with Him, the more we understand Him and His ways. We know that in Isaiah he tells us that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways (55:8). We need to be in connection with Him to truly walk with Him. How else can we know if something aligns with the God I know?
We see that Jesus often found quiet time to pray. Luke 5:15-16
Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
I bet each of you can relate to how Jesus feels right here. Crowds pressing in and needing Jesus. Never leaving him alone and wanting more and more and more of Him. Welcome to mom life…sticky little people always there wanting more and more and more from you. Jesus gets it. And he knew because of it He needed to pray to His Heavenly Father; He needed quiet prayer time to connect with God. So do you.
Luke 22 shows Jesus retreating to solitude on the Mount of Olives to pray. He knew how much quiet time with God mattered. I know just how busy and distracting this season is, with little to no quiet and never time to even finish a thought. But please let this be an encouragement and a challenge to be intentional to still find quiet time with God.
God knows you like REALLY knows you. He chose you. He loves you. You are known by the creator of the universe. What a beautiful gift that is, but let’s not overlook how special it is to be invited to intimately know the creator of the universe.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Rachel Rae Anderson
Featured Image by Pexels from Pixabay
