What Does It Mean To Be Known?

We all want people to notice us and really understand us. Every human being desires to be fully known and still fully loved and accepted, and we all want to know others in the same way. Often, individuals seek Christian counseling in order to answer the question: what does it mean to be truly known? God understands the importance of that question.

The Desire To Actually Be Known

The essence of relationship is to know and to be known. It’s what we all desire, whether it is from friends, parents, girlfriends, boyfriends, spouses, and especially God. But something gets in the way. In many of our relationships, we are not known or understood in the way we wish. Most of the time our relationships are not as strong as we’d like. We begin to wonder if it is even possible to actually be known.

The Bible says, “Oh God, you have searched me and known me!” God perfectly knows every part of us, both the good and the bad, the large and the small. And yet He still perfectly loves us. The desire to be fully known and fully loved is what we all long for. The word for this is “intimacy.”

Not only does God know us, but we are able to know Him. He has made himself accessible to us, and we can continually learn about and know Him more. As we come to know God more, we end up knowing ourselves better. A relationship is formed in this knowing.

The Bible says this relationship with God is the most satisfying thing we can experience in this life. Jesus describes it this way: “I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly.” Have you really pondered what it means for you to be in relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ?

God Chose You

You did nothing to earn His favor, but He has set His affections on you. God has reached down and grabbed His enemies and made them His friends. One author wrote:

“Deeper than knowing God is being known by God. What defines us as Christians is not most profoundly that we have come to know Him, but that He took note of us and made us His own.”

It’s difficult to even begin to fathom that truth. God has known and loved you before the foundation of the world. We have no pedigree that would attract Him to us. We have no earthly reason He should look at us, but He does. Being known by God gives us comfort in the dark times in our heart.

“But you, O Lord, know me; you see me, and test my heart toward you.”

Jeremiah 12:3

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

John 10:27

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”

1 Corinthians 13:12

God knows you and what you are going through in your darkest trial. This is a truth worth coming back to every day. God sees every accident and mistake. God knows when your back pain is so bad that I can’t sleep at night. He is keenly aware of your feelings of depression and anxiousness. God knows you and your trials. He knows each of your chemotherapy appointments. God was there weeping with you when you lost a loved one. He knows your every injury, illness, and irritation. God sees your face. He knows how you feel. He knows you!