God knows you

Crecently posted a fascinating series of pictures of the contents of suitcases left behind by deceased patients of the Willard Asylum for the Chronic Insane between 1910 and the 1960s. The images tell stories but leave many questions. One suitcase held a woman’s collection of whimsical hairbrushes, packed next to a small straw broom. Another suitcase held a clock, a tub of shoe polish and a small hand-carved Scottish Terrier. There were books, musical instruments, photographs and journals. Each photo reminds you that a person left this luggage behind, a person who was someone’s mother, brother or friend. The scattered remnants give us vague glimpses of the people who owned them.

God speaks an assuring word to the prophet Jeremiah, a word that also assures us. “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart” (Jeremiah 1:5). Jeremiah was no surprise to God. No person is.

He doesn’t merely know about us, as though we were a random fact lodged in His brain. Rather, God intimately knows us (meaning a deep, personal knowing— what people once called a soul knowing). Even more, God formed us. We are His idea, His creation. God desired us.

Still Jeremiah protested. It’s as though he believed this word was too good to be true. God had affirmed a call on the prophet’s life, but Jeremiah was afraid. He said, “I can’t speak for You! I’m too young” (v.6). Fear keeps us from hearing God’s words of love and from receiving His delight.

God persisted. “Don’t be afraid... for I will be with you” (v.8). He knows and loves us completely. —Winn Collier