Solomon tells us that “a happy heart is good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing” (Proverbs 17:22, AMP ). God undoubtedly has a sense of humor; we need only look at some of the animals He created (it’s hard not to smile at the sight of a hippo, a monkey, or a puppy). Or think of some of the married couples you know: don’t you think God was smiling at the wedding as He looked ahead to the interaction of the wildly different personalities that will be living together?
In her book The Open Door, Frederica Mathewes-Green writes about coming under the gaze of Christ, letting ourselves be known in the way that David describes in Psalm 139:
O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
For a long time, this was not a very comfortable psalm for me. That’s putting it mildly: it scared me. But that’s because I didn’t have the perspective that Mathewes-Green shares. She writes that Christ “knows us from the deepest inside out,” then continues:
Not that this process of revelation and cleansing is comfortable. It’s scary to be known so thoroughly, but it’s also a relief. We have never experienced anyone who knows us this well, and yet He loves us completely…we see how ancient His love is. He was loving us before we ever turned to look into these eyes. He has been loving us a long time, from a Cross two thousand years before we were born. We don’t have to improve, or cover up our faults, to earn this love. It has been surrounding us all our lives, waiting for us to receive it… He loves us too much to let us remain as we are, confused and mired in sin, hurting others and ourselves. He will heal us, and His healing is sure.
Reading this, I think, “Well, when you put it that way…” If submitting myself to this searching better reveals Christ’s love, then I’m missing out when I try to avoid it.
And I consider the woman at the well. What an amazing story this is to reveal the gentleness of our Savior. Jesus knew her history, but He reveals His insight so carefully, so kindly, that when she realizes He knows she’s living in adultery, her response is to ask more of Him. His love comes through so clearly that she brings others to Him, and Jesus ends up staying there two days. An entire town is changed.
Again: If submitting myself to this searching better reveals Christ’s love, then I’m missing out when I try to avoid it. From this perspective, I can say with David,
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.
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Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.