To be known deeply by another is both beautiful and terrifying. I believe we all long to be seen, to be understood, to really be known. Yet it is such a vulnerable act to reveal our truest and deepest selves to another. There is always risk of being judged or rejected, laughed at or dismissed. So we often play the game of revealing and concealing, opening and then closing our hearts, showing up and then hiding once again.
Psalm 139 has long been one of my favorites. “O God, you have searched me and known me!” cries the psalmist. In beautifully poetic language the psalmist describes how deeply he or she is known by God – in waking and sleeping, in speaking and silence. God sees the psalmist in every moment. This awareness of being so completely seen is too wonderful for the psalmist to comprehend, perhaps even a little scary, because our poet goes on to describe how it is impossible to hide from God’s presence. God is there in light and darkness, even at the far end of the sea and down into the depths of the earth.
So the psalmist comes to a place of calm, of resting in this terrifyingly wonderful experience of being fully known by the Creator. Upon awakening, the psalmist knows God is still present, still guiding and holding and loving. We even get a spew of vengefulness from this ancient prayer-writer, as he or she proclaims hatred for enemies and evildoers. This kind of raw honesty is part of being known, perhaps the hardest part. Will we let our loved ones, will we let God, see every part of us? The good, the bad and the ugly?
If we do, we receive the healing and transforming power of acceptance and love, we are led in the way everlasting. So let us be bold in our willingness to be known by God, to be honest with our Heavenly Parent, trusting we will be met over and over and over with grace, love and acceptance.
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