To Be Known

Who am I? Does anybody care about me? Am I lovable? What’s my identity? Am I good enough?

All through life the need to be loved and known are cries of the human heart. From those first baby wails of “Help me! Feed me! Make me safe!” we need attention, deep down inside. It is a primal connection beyond ourselves that says we are at our core a needy sort, even in our bluster, independence, or whatever stage of maturity. Why else would there be refrains like “looking for love in all the wrong places”? We are searching to be loved, to be accepted, to be known.

Love. Such a confusing word. Used in many different contexts, the definition is broad, deep, variable, depending on who’s speaking. It’s emotional, yet has certain behaviors that tag along with it. Things like commitment, adoration, communication, sacrifice…things that take time… getting to know the beloved personally. In this temporal world we navigate primarily through the physical senses. What happens when we are still crying out as others reject, disappoint, use, abuse, hurt, and are just unable to fill our every need? None of us can be expected to always care perfectly for another, try though we might. We all fall short.

Who then knows me to the heights and depths that I need? Who will catch me when I fall, when all others fail me? When I am stuck in fear and hurt… who can I trust will never laugh at my pain, failures, embarrassments? Who knows me better than I know myself, who can guide me through the mucky muck to bring me into light again, into peace? Only my Creator, the One who gave me breath in the first place.

There is a place deep within where, when invited, the Holy Spirit resides, the promised One Jesus said He would send to dwell within each believer. The Helper, Comforter, Counselor, Teacher, Friend. Like any relationship, the more time spent together, the more known become the beloveds. And there, while no human can fully understand another, we can find true acceptance where we are already loved and fully known. It is a transformational experience. Inward growth happens as God’s presence in one’s life changes things. As one experiences the Living God, it becomes easier to trust Him in more and more areas of one’s life. He’s a Person reaching towards each of us for relationship, to set us free from all that ensnares our souls. He is the One Who loves us completely. He is the Perfect Father. All that mucky muck? He already knows.

John 16:26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.”

Nahum 1:7 NKJV “The Lord is good,
A stronghold in the daylight of trouble;
And He knows those who trust in Him.”