As a child I was taught that God saw me. I actually found it quite unsettling because I regarded Him as a judge. As I began to realize His love, my self-condemnation faded, and it became a comfort to know He saw me. I am not invisible, but seen by the God of the Universe.
He sees us laugh and cry. He sees us wring our hands and lift them in worship. He sees us when we help others and when we help ourselves. The most extraordinary aspect of His vision is that He sees the depths of our heart—its desires and disappointments, its good intentions and frustrated dreams, its gratitude too full to articulate, its wonder too deep to explore, and its yearning too profound to express.
I can see people, but not inside them, not their deepest hopes and greatest longings. Even those I love best are not fully known to me. I recently learned the word sawubona. It is a Zulu greeting that means, “I see you.” More than a polite expression, it recognizes the worth and dignity of a person. It says, “I see the whole of you—your experiences, your passions, your pain, your strengths and weaknesses, and your future. You are valuable to me.”1 As much as I want to fully embrace sawubona, I am limited by my humanity. But God has no limitations and even a word like sawubona cannot begin to describe how thoroughly God sees us.
The One who created us in secret sees us when we rest and when we rise. He knows our thoughts before they are formed and our words before we speak them. He is before us, behind us, and over us. He knows our moments and days, and the struggles and joys they hold. He sees the whole of us and completely loves us.2
Sawubona is a thrilling concept, but it is inadequate when describing how God sees us.
For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.
2 Chronicles 16:9
1loominternational.org
2see Psalm 139
BARBARA HIGBY 