God has called you his own

To be truly known is one of the scariest, and desirable states that a human can be in. On the one hand, there’s a sense of cheap safety in anonymity, a measure of protection in being unassociated. If you’re never truly known, you can never truly be rejected. On the other hand to be seen as we truly are and to be understood and accepted is incomparably good. Fortunately for us, God does not give us this option.

Isaiah 43:19 reads, “But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”

This verse introduces us to the reality that God is aware of each of us individually. God knows your name, God sees you, and God understands you better than you understand yourself. No anonymity, no quiet absences. Even if you feel like you’re lost in a crowd of faces, even if you feel like you’ll forever go unnoticed, even if you’re sure that you’ll never be heard, God knows you by name. More than that, God claimed you as his own.

Somehow, in an undeserving, cosmically ridiculous and wonderful turn of events, the originator of reality knows us individually. Even more surprising, he not only knows us, but has personally claimed us as his own.

Know today that you are seen, you are known, and God has claimed you as his own.


Isaiah 43:1-2