Grateful for Divine Acknowledgement

“LORD, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that thou makest account of him! Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.” (Ps 144:3-4 AV)

That underlined phrase literally means He knows of and takes account of our existence.  Not only does God know us, He knows of us.  This knowledge is an act of His omniscient will.  He could choose to take no knowledge of us.  God could have created the biological processes by which we come into existence and then let nature take its course without any proactive act of his will to acknowledge that we exist.  Theologians call this deism.  That is, the idea the Creator ceased to interact with His creations and steps back to allow His creation to take its course naturally and without His direct interference.  This is not the theology of the Bible.  God knows us.  He chooses to know us.  He chooses to know that we exist.  To this truth, the psalmist is moved.  He stands in astonishment that the God who created all would take the effort to know someone as insignificant and he, let alone even acknowledging his existence.

As someone who came from a large family and who was the runt of his class, alone time was not hard to come by.  Or at least the absence of direct affirmation from those who would have made me feel like I was important to someone.  It is hard to have the attention one craves from his parents when he has to share that attention with ten other siblings.  Compounded to that reality was the fact I was the class runt.  Or, putting it another way, I was the one everyone else picked on.  My school days were a nightmare until I reached my senior year.  We moved to a new city with a new set of people and it was much easier to fit in.  All this history did damage to my self-worth.  When I received Christ as my Savior, the LORD put into my life that changed all that.  Pastor Hal Roscoe, the Singles Class pastor, showed affection and respect for me that no one else had ever shown.  I felt humbled that someone would take notice of me.  I felt like I had nothing to offer in return.  There was no skill, trait, ability, or resource I had that could ever match that which this pastor showed towards me.  I was floored that he remembered my name and the details of my life.  The fact he recognized me at all as a person rescued me from a life of depression and perhaps even a tragic end.

Our own unworthiness is at the heart of the statement above.  It is a good thing to think such things.  Unless such things have an adverse reaction that causes more harm than good.  Our psalmist states the truth above as a statement of appreciation and opportunity.  In other words, he is so thankful that such a great God as our God would even take notice of us.  He sees this as an opportunity to walk with God.  However, the arrogantly humble person will react in just the opposite way.  He will see the affirmation of God as the means of more self-abasement and flee the attention showered by grace as a means of self-mutilation.  He will crawl away from the LORD because he does not feel worthy of God’s affirmation and in the process, seek to punish himself for the unworthiness he feels.  He will escape to a private place and emotionally and mentally flog himself when he compares his state with the holiness of the God who desires to know him.  He will torture himself because someone dared show him some attention.  This is nothing more than pride.  When we read of the truth of God’s affirmation above, we need to see it as David saw it.  If God is going to acknowledge my existence despite what and who I am, then I am going to take that overture and get to know Him.  All the while I am very humbled and grateful for His love towards me!