Knowing Me, Knowing You ...

Many years ago, there was a TV game show called 'Mr & Mrs'.  Couples competed against each other to show how well husband knew wife and vice versa.  Each couple in their turn would be divided, one going to a sound-proof booth while the other faced questions about how their partner would react to specific comments or situations.  The 'silenced one' would then be released and asked the same questions, with the number of questions that got the same answer from each partner determining that couple's score.

A few days ago, I did something foolish and told myself off under my breath, using words that my father would have used had he caught me in that situation.  It wasn't a phrase that I would normally use and I started reminiscing about our respective vocabularies. (And that, incidentally, is a word he would never have used: he would probably have said 'the way we speak'.)  Each of us has our own vocabulary, assembled from what we hear or read day by day as we grow in age and experience.  I recognise words that my father would or would not have said because he was part of my life every day for more than twenty years.

These two examples illustrate the profound link between love and knowledge (that's knowing in the sense of intimate awareness).  A winning couple in the game would have shown the deep understanding of each other that could only come from true love; the fact that I still recall my father's words over thirty years after his death is an indication of how special he was to me in his life and still is today.

I invite you to look with me at Psalm 139.  It tells of a knowledge that is beyond our understanding (v.6) and a presence that is greater in its compass that is barely matched by the most modern of technologies (v.7 ff).  This is explained by a depth of intimacy far exceeding that of a human parent (v.13-16) and gives rise to the loyalty that matches the fiercest that we could expect within human families (v.19-22).  How do we react to such love?  Surely all we can do is to seek our own improvement (v.23-24), seek to know Him more and nestle into our heavenly Father's warm embrace.

These verses show the depth and intensity of God's love for us, the greatest expression of which was the gift of Jesus.  The significance of that gift is, for me, summed up by the words of Stuart Townend's hymn, How deep the Father's love for us, which you can hear here.  

It never cease to amazed me how the Psalms, though written thousands of years ago and couched in ways of life and cultures now long gone, reflect situations and relationships that are just as relevant to our lives in the twenty-first century.  

Which is your favourite Psalm?