“You know me, Lord.” (Jeremiah 22:3)

Only God knows the deepest realities of the human heart. Whatever we see of one another, no matter how attentive or insightful it might be, is only a shadow of the truth. But God sees deeper than the shadows. “You know me, Lord,” the prophet Jeremiah said; “you see me”. God’s knowledge of us isn’t theoretical or cerebral. He doesn’t observe us from a distance. Rather, He peers into the hidden realities of who we are. God knows the depths of our interior lives, even those things we struggle to understand ourselves.

No matter our struggles or what’s going on in our hearts, God sees us and truly knows us.

Daily Questions

1. What makes you feel alone, isolated, or unseen?
2. How does it change things to realize that God knows you?

Daily Thoughts

Dear God, this world can be a lonely place, but we’re astounded at how truly You know us. It fills us with wonder and joy.

Jeremiah 12:1-3

You are always righteous, Lord, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their hearts. Yet you know me, Lord; you see me and test my thoughts about you. Drag them off like sheep to be butchered! Set them apart for the day of slaughter!

Bonus Information

Jeremiah 1:1 reads, “The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin.” This opening for the book gives us a surprising amount of information about this prophet-information we don’t receive about some other prophets in the Old Testament. He’s of the Levitical priestly line and starts his journey as a resident of Anathoth, a village a few miles northeast of Jerusalem-a city given to Aaron’s descendants (Joshua 21:15-19). His father, Hilkiah, was himself a priest who no doubt would’ve expected his son to follow in his footsteps. Jeremiah, however, pursued his calling as a prophet rather than following his father as a priest. The name Jeremiah can mean “Jehovah establishes or exalts” or “Jehovah hurls down.” That last option may in fact speak into the prophet’s message, which has to do with God’s judgment of Jerusalem and the Southern kingdom of Judah.