We Go Way Back
“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” — Jeremiah 1:5a
Have you ever found yourself with a group of people, and there’s one person in the group who has known you for quite some time?
Somewhere in the conversations, this person comments, “We go way back.”
Their informal announcement to the group is their way of letting people know they are privileged to information about you that no one else is, thus feeling a sense of pride and thinking they have an advantage.
In essence, this is what God was saying to Jeremiah — I know details about you that no one else knows.
Most of the time, when we hear or read Jeremiah 1:5a, we listen to it, but we don’t hear it, and we read it, but we don’t read the words.
What do I mean?
We’ve heard Part A of this scripture so many times that we have become too familiar with it — desensitized to the more profound meaning it reveals.
When one thinks about it, the truth behind the statement can be somewhat beyond our comprehension.
I heard a pastor explain it this way.
“Do you realize that God has known you for more years than your years of age?”
Even though we may have known God for two, five, or perhaps twenty-plus years, He’s known us longer.
Before conception and formation, God was acquainted with Jeremiah, and the same holds for you and me. We were mere thoughts, waiting to become a part of existence, then He said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…” (Genesis 1:26a, NKJV)
I love the way David expresses it:
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
16 You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed. (Psalm 139:13, 15-16, NLT)
Imagine God developing a relationship and spending time with us, and we not realizing it. I think it would be somewhat like sleepwalking. Going to the refrigerator, getting a snack, and not knowing what you did.
The point is God knows us. There is nothing concerning us that catches Him by surprise.
He knows the number of hairs (or not) that we have on our heads.
He knows our beginning and our end.
He knows our names.
He knows our strengths and our weaknesses.
He knows our likes and dislikes.
He knows our thoughts and innermost feelings.
And He knows what’s best for us.
Trust Him. It’s the only logical thing to do.
Join me next week for Coffee on The Couch.