I know you.

In Jeremiah 1:5 God says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations”.

I have realised one thing about life; it is that we are always in a state of transition. With every single decision we make, we propel our lives in a certain direction. Sometimes when we are working towards something either growing in our walk with God or becoming more efficient at our job, we find ourselves in a place where we are not quite where we want to be but we are not who we were. It is very easy in that place to get upset that you are not making as much progress as you hoped. It is easy to think, well I am never going to change anyway but the best person to look at in that situation is God and not yourself.

Romans 4:17 says, “That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing”.

The Bible talks about Noah as a man of faith who walked with God. Genesis 6:9 says, “These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.” God called Noah blameless yet a little later Noah is the same guy who planted a vineyard and was drunk with wine. God did not change His mind about Noah then, Noah is still recorded as the man who walked with God.

In Genesis 20, Abraham entered the land of Gerar with Sarah and he lied and called her his sister because she was beautiful and he was afraid the people there would kill him. The father of our faith was afraid for his life and the king of Gerar, Abimelech took Sarah because of the lie. Yet God did not disqualify him from being the father of faith and was called a friend of God in James 2:23.

When God sent His angel to Gideon in Judges 6, Gideon was hiding in a wine press but God called him a mighty man of valour or a mighty hero. The man was not doing anything heroic at the time, but he went on to do something great.

These are just a few examples to show that these people were not perfect. God knows we are not perfect. We all make mistakes but He doesn’t want us to sit down and stay there and say this is me. Give Him the chance to speak to you when you are in that place and He’ll create something out of the nothing you have become. The apostle Paul went around killing Christians before his conversion but God turned him around and he wrote the majority of the New Testament.

The world tries to tell you who you are by your mistakes, but God calls you who you are based on what He put in you when He created you. He calls forth the seeds of greatness He planted in you right in the beginning of creation. He speaks to the part of you He knew before you were ever in your mother’s womb. The you He created before the corruption of the world got in you. He knows that person. He knew you before you ever knew fear, pain or rejection. He knows you today with all the past hurts, mistakes and circumstances. He knows you. So, when you feel a little lost or uncertain about who you are, look in His word and see all the wonderful things He says about you. He knows you and He loves you, flaws and all.  

I will leave you with this verse to meditate on today.

Isaiah 43:1: “But now, this is what the Lord says— he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine””.

Hear God saying to you today, “I know you and you are mine”.