One thing I know about the human condition…every one of us wants to be seen. Heard. Fully known.

And sometimes, maybe we don’t feel those things. We feel unseen. We feel like no one understands us or wants to hear what’s really going on in our heart of hearts.

It’s a longing that we have, and sometimes we go to great lengths to try to be seen, heard & known by others.

I think that’s why social media has taken the world by storm. Maybe sometimes we put things out there because we just want to be heard. Maybe sometimes we put pictures out there because we’re lonely and want to be seen…and for a moment, the “likes” and “loves” touch some of the deep longing in our souls for connection. I’m guilty of it. But out of 200 likes and loves, how many of those people actually really know the real you? How many of them care to know what you do all day long, what you think about all day long? We scroll and like and move on. And sometimes we’re left even more lonely at the end of it.

And maybe sometimes we just hide. From God and everyone else, because we think that if we’re truly seen, we couldn’t be truly loved.

Psalm 139:2-3 says this:

2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3  You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.

God sees us. He knows the details of all that we do…he even notices when we stand up and sit down. He knows when we’re happy, sad, exhausted, overwhelmed…when we’re at the end of ourselves. He sees.

The word “discern” means that He understands, considers, and gives heed to every single thought that we think. Every. Single. Thought. He gets us.

He knows the path that we’re on in life…the way that we live…He is acquainted and familiar with all of our ways.

This is what we all long for, deep down. For someone to see our every thought and love us deeply anyway. Because we all have thoughts that we’d never speak or share, but our loving Father sees every one of them and He understands us. He understands our anger, our hurt, our insecurities, our fears. We want someone to be familiar with all of the things we do. It’s comforting. It means they know us. It means they care enough to pay attention to the details about us…our facial expressions…our tone of voice and our body language. They know the rhythms of our day.

The thing is, I think, that we forget. Or we struggle to believe because we can’t physically see Him. But He’s given us His Word to remind us of His character. Of His great love for us. He wants us to know, deep down, that we are truly seen, heard, and known. I wonder if we could let the truth of that sink in…I wonder what peace it would give us. I wonder if we would stop striving for attention elsewhere so much.

God designed us to be relational. It’s normal for us to want human connection because it’s how He created us. At the end of the day, though, we have to know that the only one that will ever truly see all of us and know us the best is Him. When we can rest in that, human relationships are a little bit easier. Our most intimate relationship needs to be with our Creator. He’s the only one that can fill our needs completely, and when we allow Him to meet our greatest needs, we might just not need as much from people because He alone satisfies us. Psalm 107:9 says “For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.” People are imperfect and we all have struggles…only God is perfect, and only He has the endless amount of love and grace that each one of us truly needs.

Lord, so quickly I forget that You alone can satisfy me. When I feel lonely and unseen, I forget that You see me and You never leave me. Thank You for Your perfect, intimate love for me!! Thank You for giving us Your word, filled with the truth about who You are. It’s truly the greatest love story of all. Help me to rest in the fact that I am seen, heard, and known. Help me to rest in the fact that I’m loved deeply, despite all of my flaws that I know You’re so well acquainted with. Help me to remember, when I don’t feel understood, that You understand me. Thank You for Your grace for my every thought and action. Thank You for pursuing me with Your reckless love.

I love this song & video…”Known” by Tauren Wells https://youtu.be/gbQ6Lfh5L14

~Nicole 💕

“Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face continually.” Psalm 105:4