God With Us

 Have you heard someone use the phrase, "I feel seen" - or "I see you"? Of course it can mean simply that you visually see someone with your eyes. But also, 'Feeling seen' means feeling acknowledged - like "I feel understood" or "I feel affirmed". For someone to 'see you' it means they need to be present in the moment to be able to empathize, comfort, or support.

I read a handful of articles where people expressed that they felt 'un-seen'. They felt like they weren't respected or appreciated, or even felt invisible. For some of them, their frustration appeared quite valid. For others, it seemed more like, if someone didn't fully agree with them - they felt the person didn't 'see' them. One person wrote, "Feeling seen is to accept, not aiming to change or judge, because everyone's experience is valid."

While I understand the need for people to feel validated - I'd argue it's possible to 'see' someone even while disagreeing with them. While everyone's experience is valid - truth is not subjective. There is still right and wrong. But I'm not the judge. If we understand what the Bible teaches, we should be very aware that...

I. God sees you

God 'sees us' - in every sense and meaning - even when He disagrees with our choices. Just last week, I talked about how Jesus is aware of what is going on in our lives. The word 'omniscient' is the word used to express the characteristic of God that describes how He is all knowing. God knows where we are right now; He knows how many hairs you have on your head. God knows what you did last week, last night, He knows what you are thinking right now. Huh....

Let's look at what King David wrote regarding this idea of God's 'omniscience'. We find it in Psalms 139:1b-6 (NIV)...

O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. (2) You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. (3) You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. (4) Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. (5) You hem me in - behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. (6) Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

In our society, especially during the last few years, we've become increasingly disconnected from one another. Our schedules are busier than ever, and between digital communications and online shopping and 'contactless delivery' of both packages and even food, many people can breeze through much of life without any actual human contact. But of course, in the age of artificial intelligence and marketing algorithms - we've lost all privacy pretty much everywhere. Do we really want anyone to know everything about us?

People want to be understood and known, but are we ready for any relationship with absolutely no secrets at all? As we read that passage from Psalms about how God knows everything; does it...

A. Always feel good?

It's one thing to think about God being in control of the universe and knowing the secrets to life and everything on a cosmic scale - it's another thing to think about it on a very personal level. David is talking about the fact that God knows everything we have ever done; the good and the bad. David says that God 'perceives his thoughts from afar'. There are no secrets with God.

Now, I consider myself a relatively 'good guy'; relatively - however, I am far from perfect. Are there things in my past and even my present that, if given the choice, that I would hide from God? - Maybe the frustration expressed toward God because He hasn't been doing what I thought He should do in regards to answering my prayers the last year or so... Yeah, if I could erase a bit of that when I read David's words about God knowing our words and thoughts...

Is David trying to make us nervous? Does David want us to feel eternally embarrassed for all the dumb things we've ever done over the course of our lives? Does knowing that God sees everything in your life, does it ever make you want to...

B. Pull away?

That's not God's desire. He wants us to draw near to Him. But knowing what you know about yourself - the stuff you'd rather God not know - does it make you want to pull away from God? Let's continue with what David wrote in Psalms 139:7-16 (NIV)...

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? (8) If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. (9) If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, (10) even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. (11) If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,"

(12) even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. (13) For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. (14) I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. (15) My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, (16) your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

The tone starts out feeling as if it's David's desire to run away from God and he just can't do it. But as we read, we realize that David isn't complaining about the fact that he can't get away from God; he's praising God for His presence and guidance and protection. And then David writes that familiar passage about the intimate nature of his own creation in the womb. David isn't scared by God's watchfulness, he's not fearful, he's not embarrassed - he's thankful for God's presence.

If you know anything about David's life, you know that David had a lot of things about which he could have been ashamed. Yes, he had faith and followed God and slew the giant Goliath. Yes, David wrote wonderful songs about God. Yes, David was the king of God's chosen people. Yes, he was even called "a man after God's own heart".

However, we also know that David also slept with another man's wife and then had her husband killed so that he could have her all for himself. Wouldn't David have reason to want to hide things from God? How is it that David is not only 'okay' with God knowing everything about him, but He wrote a Psalm praising God for it? To understand that kind of intimacy, David had to have...

II. A higher wisdom

David didn't view God's ever present watchfulness as an intrusion - but as a privilege. David wasn't worried about God looking over his shoulder just waiting to zap him when he did something wrong. David understood that God was ever present, so he might as well take advantage of that heavenly attention. Jumping ahead in the passage, David wrote this in Psalms 139:23-24 (NIV)...

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. (24) See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

David was inviting God to look over everything in his inner most being and to point out those flaws so that he could then correct them. But wouldn't that be like going to the IRS after you've filed your tax return and challenging them to find any errors? If you're like me, you file your taxes to the best of your abilities and hope you don't set off any red flags that might trigger an audit.

But there's a major difference between that analogy. The IRS is most interested in enforcing the law; God is interested in grace. John 3:17 - Jesus didn't come to condemn the world but to save it... God's goal is restoring our relationship with Him - God has our best interest at heart. David understood that. With that kind of understanding of God, that wisdom, even with righteous scrutiny - there will be an amazing level of...

A. Comfort

David knew he wasn't perfect, but he also understood that God wasn't watching him just to condemn him. When you get to that level of understanding in your relationship with God, there is a great sense of relief. It is an amazing thing to enjoy that kind of 'comfortableness' with God. We see this in 1 John 4:15-19 (NIV)...

If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. (16) And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. (17) In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.

(18) There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. (19) We love because he first loved us.

David knew the deep love of God and had come to trust in His grace. David had moved beyond just the fear of God's punishment and knew Him as his loving Father. That kind of relationship, that understanding can bring great...

B. Freedom

David wasn't constantly worried about breaking God's laws. His focus had turned from one of just trying to avoid doing bad things to working to do the right things, the good things - the things that pleased God most! The fact that God was perpetually watching David wasn't seen as a restrictive situation, but actually something that gave David great freedom - freedom to please God. Let's look at Paul's words in Romans 13:3 (NIV)...

For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you.

If you are trying to please God with your life - you have nothing to worry about. I've often shared my Mom's plaque from our living room growing up, "If it pleases you to please God, you can do as you please."

If your main goal is to do what you want, to make yourself happy - yes, you will have a 'difficult relationship' with God's laws. You'll always be bumping up against them and running afoul of them in search of your own pleasure. And it won't go well in the end. If, however, your main goal in life is to serve God, to please Him - God's laws won't really be a factor. "If it pleases you to please God, you can do as you please." That's freedom!

You may have heard about this story in Philadelphia, a gas station owner's business was getting repeatedly robbed and vandalized. His calls to the police, many times, went unanswered. So he hired his own guards with body armor and guns. One man posted the story and asked people if the armed guards made them feel uncomfortable? The vast majority of customers seemed quite pleased - 'Why should I be uncomfortable? They're here to deal with the criminals - I feel safer!'

The innocent man can be free from worry because he knows he's not doing anything wrong. Knowing that God sees everything can motivate you to avoid the wrong things and to seek out the right things. And when you do that - you can be free from the fear of guilt.

One of the biggest obstacles in our prayer life is guilt. When we know that we have sinned, many times our first reaction is to pull away from God. This guilt drives us away from God when the very place we need to be the most at that moment is right at the throne of God. How do we fix that? Again, Paul's words in Romans 8:1-2 (NIV)...

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, (2) because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

Even when we find ourselves in situations where we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we have indeed messed up and sinned - we know that God is watching - but we also know that He can forgive us because of the sacrifice of Jesus; because of the grace found in Jesus. "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." We are now free from the eternal consequences of our own sinful choices.

David understood the true blessing of having a God who knows everything about us and still loves us despite it all. That's love! That's the kind of relationship that God wants to have with you! He is always watching, waiting for you to turn to Him. There is no place that you can go to get away from His love.

So What?

At the very beginning I said, "For someone to 'see you' it means they need to be present in the moment to be able to empathize, comfort, or support." God sees you! That's the point of Christmas! Immanuel - God with us! God, born as a man, present with us to empathize, comfort, and save!

God created you for a purpose. He gave you gifts and abilities to do what He wants you to do. Are you doing those things? Or are you allowing yourself to be such a prisoner to sin that you aren't free to please Him? Are you such a slave to guilt because of your past that instead of running to God you're running from God? Are you busy making excuses why you can't do those things - "I'm not good enough, I don't know enough, I don't think I could do that..."?

God created you and He gave you exactly what you need to get the job done. If God calls you to talk to your neighbor or your family about Him - do it; He'll give you the right words. He's watching - make Him proud!

If He calls you to volunteer in the area of youth or children's ministry - do it, make Him proud! If He calls you to minister to those in need or to reach out to those who are sick or shut in - do it! Many Sundays, I pray that 'we will put a smile on God's face'. Knowing that He is watching - what are you doing to make Him smile?