Knowing as He Knows Me [Awakening Faith]
You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. (Psalm 139:1 – 2)
Lord, you know me. Let me know you. Let me come to know you even as I am known. You are the strength of my soul; enter it and make it a place suitable for your dwelling, a house “without spot or blemish” (Eph. 5:27). This is my hope and my prayer. In this hope I rejoice, and it is right to rejoice in it. As sinners we tend to lament the things that do not deserve our tears and be unaffected by things that deserve our sorrow. “For behold, you have loved the truth, because the one who does what is true enters into the light” (John 3:21). Help me do this truth both when I am alone and before many witnesses.
Lord, the depths of a person’s conscience lie exposed before your eyes. Could I hide anything from you, even if I did not want to confess it to you? If I tried I would only be hiding you from myself, not myself from you. Whoever I am, Lord, I lie exposed to your scrutiny.
I have already spoken of the profit I gain when I confess to you. But I do not confess with mere bodily speech, but with the words of my soul and the cry of my mind, which you hear and understand. When I am wicked, my confession to you is an expression of displeasure with myself. But when I do good, I confess that this goodness comes from you. “For you, Lord, bless the just man” (Ps. 5:12), but first you “justify the wicked” (Rom. 4:5). And so I confess to you in silence, but not in silence. My voice is silent but my heart cries out.
Augustine
Awakening Faith: Daily Devotionals from the Early Church
Awakening Faith: Daily Devotionals from the Early Churchby James Stuart Bell and Patrick J. Kelly
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