for the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. and no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. [hebrews 4:12–13]

i spent a lot of years waiting tables. the majority of that time was at macaroni grill. as part of the training process we had to memorize every ingredient in every dish on the menu. i remember taking the tests and struggling to find the answers and having just enough knowledge of the dishes to pass the tests. i also remember during training when guests would say, “can you tell me what’s in the pasta milano?” and in my mind i’m thinking, ”uh…i don’t know…i can sure give it a try…” and then i would rattle of a list of ingredients i had memorized; bowtie pasta, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes. i knew the ingredients, but i had never even seen half the dishes let alone know what they tasted like.

but over time, as i tasted the dishes – served them to hundreds of people – ate them for lunch over and over – i began to actually know the dishes. and when someone asked what was in the pasta milano i wasn’t just reciting a random list of ingredients. i was speaking out of personal experience. i didn’t need to rack my brain. i knew how tangy the sun-dried tomatoes were. i knew how rich the garlic cream sauce was. and i knew it was one of our most popular dishes and people loved it. so i could speak out of a true knowledge of the dish, not just some memorized facts.

now, this is a weird analogy for making this point, but bear with me. God knows you in a deeply personal way. you aren’t just a list of facts to him. he is personally intimate with your heart. your loves, your sins, your failures, your joys. nothing is hidden from his sight. the word of God is living and active. it is pursuing you. it is examining you. it is moving in you. it is revealing hidden parts of you. God knows his people.

i am the good shepherd. i know my own and my own know me, just as the father knows me and i know the father; and i lay down my life for the sheep. [john 10:14–15]

and the amazing thing is, we have the opportunity to participate in this intimate knowledge as well. we have the joy of the presence of the Lord. to experience on a personal level what it means to be known by the king of the universe. through his word, through his presence, not only does he have a knowledge of us, but we can have knowledge of him.

as you think about your relationship with Jesus, do you rejoice in being naked and exposed before him or do you long to hide? is God a list of facts to you, or do you have experiential knowledge of your God? press into the presence of the Lord, believer. and revel in the piercing love of your heavenly father.

draw near to God, and he will draw near to you…[james 4:8]

~ keith kozlowski