Our Father Knows Us Off By Heart!

“For the Lord your God has arrived to live among you, He is a mighty saviour. He will rejoice over you with great gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”
Zephaniah 3:17 (NLT)

Memory is an amazing thing; many people can memorise every word in a Shakespeare play, others are able to remember long lists of words or numbers or many, many poems. We call this “knowing it off by heart.”

Have you ever considered the fact that God knows us off by heart?

King David understood this only too well.  In the 139^th Psalm he enumerates the many ways in which our Father holds us in his memory and in his presence. These verses are quoted from the NLT and the italics throughout are mine.  Verse 1—“O Lord you have examined my heart and know everything about me.” Verse 2—“you know my every thought.” Verse 3—“Every moment you know where I am.” Verse 4—“You know what I’m going to say before I say it.” Verse 5—“You both precede and follow me, (Surround me).” Verse 9-10—“If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me and your strength will support me.” Verse 17-18—“How precious are your thoughts about me O God! They are innumerable! I can’t even count them: they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up in the morning, you are still with me!”

Our Father actually watches us sleep! We do this with our children, don’t we? How is that for knowing you and me off by heart? I believe this gives us some idea just how precious we are in the eyes of our tender Father and how much he knows about us as his children individually. Obviously, this is infinitely more than we know about our own children whom we love with a powerful parental love.

Notice something else that our Father remembers: “For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him. For he knows how we are made; he remembers that we are dust.” (Psalm 103:11-14 NRSV).

God doesn’t expect us to be perfect but to remember that he loves us totally and unconditionally. And that he “knows us off by heart!”

Prayer
Thank you for remembering us off by heart, Father, help us to remember you too as we enter each day and give you thanks for your tender mercies.
Amen

Study by Cliff Neill

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This is the 5th Day of S.E.P., a two-week summer activity camp that takes place on the bank of Loch Lomond, Scotland.  It is sponsored and run by the Worldwide Church of God UK, a part of Grace Communion International.  The camp is Christian in ethos but accepts campers from all denominations and faiths, or from none. For more information about S.E.P. visit http://www.sepuk.org

About the Author:
Cliff Neill is an Elder in Grace Communion Church Luton.

Local  Congregation:
Grace Communion Church Luton
Farley Hill Methodist Church
North Drift Way
Farley Hill
LUTON
LU1 5JE

Meeting Time:
Saturday 10:30am

Local Congregational Contact:
Harry Sullivan
Phone:  01908-582222
Email: harry_sullivan@wcg.org.uk