Bread Crumbs – Devotions for Life

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. (1) 

Most of us misread this verse.  We read it as:

The sheep hear me;

The sheep know me;

The sheep follow me.

Read it again:

The sheep hear me;

I know them;

The sheep follow me.

We follow God not because we know Him or because we discern His voice from the crowd, but because God knows us.

God knows us … our needs, wants, desires, longing, hopes, and dreams.

God knows us … how to love us, how to minister to us, and how to speak to us.

We are drawn to God, because He first loved us.  His love is a knowing love, an intimate love, a love which we feel at the core of our being.

This is why we follow Him.

I frequently hear in marriage counseling, “My spouse does not know me!”

We have a longing to be known and to be understood.  We are drawn to those who know and understand us.

I recently counseled a friend and in the process stomped all over him.  I dished out advice before I knew the longings, hurts, and needs of his heart.

After the creation of Eve, Adam cries out in joy: 

“This is at last bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh!”  (2)

Adam was celebrating that finally there was another creature, a helpmate who could understand him.  This was the blessing of Eve for him and the source of his celebration.

David cries out in joy to God saying:   

“O Lord, you have searched me and known me! (3)

God knows us so well that His Word become the words which we follow.

There is know greater joy than to be known and to be loved.

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1. John 10:27

2. Genesis 2:23

3. Psalm 139:1

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