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Do you revel in your weakness? Do you run to Christ throughout your day, looking to Him for strength? Weakness proves hard to admit. Often, we attempt to hide ourselves from others because we know frailty and sinfulness lie within. We reason that if others were to see our true selves, they would forsake us. Therefore, we shroud our persons with false smiles, unfounded confidence, bold declarations, and humor. We can hide behind a facade with men, but such strategies never work with God.
In Psalm 139, David declares:
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. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. (vv. 1–4)
We stand utterly exposed before God. What a frightful proposition this would be if it were not for the atoning work of Christ our Savior.
God knows our weaknesses, failings, and sins, but instead of that knowledge causing Him to despise us, He responds with care for us. Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me” (John 10:14). My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, our Good Shepherd knows us thoroughly. Nothing about us, from the greatest to the slightest thing, from the most obvious to the most private thing, remains hidden from Him. In fact, He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows us through and through, yet He does not despise us. On the contrary, the better a shepherd knows his sheep, the better he can provide for those sheep.
In fact, Jesus says in John 10 that He knows us and we know Him, just as the Father knows Him and He knows the Father. This boggles the mind. How great must the Father’s knowledge of the Son and the Son’s knowledge of the Father be. They have belonged to one another for all of eternity—enjoying, delighting in, and dwelling with one another as One. Yet, we will forever know Christ and be known by Him, belonging to Him and He to us for all eternity, even as He knows the Father and the Father knows Him. As Christ is linked to the Father, so we are forever linked to Christ.
What proof do we have? We need only look to the cross. Here is a Shepherd who knows His sheep’s greatest need. Our life requires His death and our death requires His life.
In the midst of daily life, Christians do well to remind themselves of the Good Shepherd’s knowledge and provision. I would dare conjecture that most of the doubts, anxieties, and fears that occupy the Christian soul can be attributed to a lack of trust in Christ as the Good Shepherd. Meditating upon Him as the Good Shepherd short-circuits many struggles. Has He not proven able to meet our greatest need? Why would He not be worthy of trust in the midst of our minor trials today? We can run to Him in our weakness. In fact, we must run to Him in our weakness. Weak sheep need a Good Shepherd who knows and provides.