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Our All-Knowing And Ever-Loving Lord

On weekends, my wife and I spend a great deal of time with our eleven-year-old miniature dachshund dog whose name is Abbie. For those not familiar with the dachshund breed, they are not only low-maintenance dogs, but they are ideal companions as well — and Abbie is no exception. She loves to play ball more than anything else in life — with the exception of eating! She faithfully fetches the rubber ball that I throw down the hallway to her and comes running back with it, excited beyond words. When my wife and I leave the house for some destination, Abbie sadly barks at us bidding us adieu. When we return, she is always there to happily and lovingly greet us — don’t we wish we had more faithful human friends like that?

Every once in a while, Abbie will come to me whining, even though her water bowl is full and she has only recently been to the backyard. I ask, “What do you want, Abbie?” Since she neither understands nor speaks English, I have to figure out what her problem is, which is quite often, loosing her ball under the hutch, or birds on the porch she would like to go chase. At other times, I exhaust all the obvious possibilities, and still have no idea what she wants. In these cases, she will eventually walk away and flop down on the floor in a huff as if to say, “Why doesn’t he understand me?”

Aren’t we thankful that our Lord never has to look down upon us in puzzlement and ask, “What is it you want?” During His earthly ministry, Jesus demonstrated a faultless insight into the minds of men:

“But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man” (John 2:24-25 – NKJV).

On more than one occasion, our Lord demonstrated His keen ability to perceive the innermost thoughts of all men (cf. Matthew 9:4; Matthew 12:25; Mark 2:8; Mark 12:15; Luke 5:22; Luke 6:8; Luke 9:47; Luke 11:17; John 2:25; John 6:64; John 6:30).

Not only does our Lord display great insight into our lives, but as our High Priest, Jesus is in a unique position to empathize with us. The prophets foretold of Him, “Surely He has borne our grief and carried our sorrows” (Isaiah 53:4 – NKJV) — and so He has:

“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15 – NKJV).

Jesus knows what we need because He has lived as we live — He has “been there, done that.” He has been hungry, thirsty, exhausted, in pain, in grief, and in both physical and emotional torment. Therefore, we never need fear that He will fail to comprehend our needs or to address them according to His divine will (Philippians 4:19 – NKJV; cf. Psalm 23:1; 1 John 3:22; 1 John 5:14). This characteristic of Jesus reminds us that He is the living Word of God (John 1:1). That Word is embodied in the inspired Scriptures. When we look into that Word, we discover a marvelous reality — that it fully and intimately understands us as well:

“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12 – NKJV).

Anticipating the day the written Word would be complete, the apostle Paul wrote, “Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12 – NKJV).

While my wife and I will never fully understand our dog — nor will she ever fully understand us, we can rejoice in the comforting truth that we serve a Christ who does understand everything there is to know about us — every weakness, every shortcoming, every need — and ever loves us anyway (Romans 5:6-8; cf. John 15:13; Gal. 1:3-4; Ephesians 5:2; 1 John 3:16).