I See You
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Last week I finally watched Avatar. I didn’t get to see it in the theater, but even in my living room it was a beautiful movie. The lights and colors of the forest were stunning. The floating mountains draped with vines, the enormous emerald leaves, the lizards that looked like fluorescent water lilies when they flew… It made me think that’s what Eden must have felt like.
After the credits rolled, there was one line that kept rolling around in my head, when Norm was teaching Jake about the Na’vi culture.
JAKE: (practicing) I see you. I see you.
NORM: But it’s not just “I’m seeing you in front of me.” It’s, “I see into you. I See you. I’m accepting you. I understand you.”
I See you.
How often do we really See the people around us? I’m sure you know what it feels like when you’re having a bad day and all you want is for someone to look you in the eyes and ask if you’re doing okay, but then life moves on and no one does. No one seems to really stop and acknowledge you as a person.
After all, isn’t this what we really want? Of course everyone wants to be loved, but a general warm fuzzy isn’t enough. We long to be Seen…to be Known. Intimately. We want to be accepted and understood. And we go through so much of our lives feeling like we’re missing it.
It’s so easy to transfer that feeling to God, as well. Of course he knows everything—he’s God, after all—but does he See me? Is this prayer really heard, or is it more like a message in a bottle, thrown out into the ocean?
Are his eyes really on me?
Grab the nearest Bible (or just go to www.biblegateway.com) and check out Genesis chapter 16. Don’t worry, it’s short. I’ll wait for you.
Now go back to verse 13.
Genesis 16:13 – Hagar thought, “Have I really seen God and lived to tell about it?” So from then on she called him, “The God Who Sees Me.”
The God who Sees me.
This really hit home for me a few months ago. I remember coming home after a powerful encounter with God. He hadn’t answered all of my questions in the way I wanted him to, but he had shown me beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was with me. That night, I wrote a poem/song that went: “I don’t have to know anything, but that you know me. I don’t have to see anything, but that you see me…” I still don’t have all the answers, but I know that I am Seen by the one who made me. And honestly, that’s enough.
I promise you, my sisters, that there is nothing in the world like knowing that God Sees you. His eyes are always on you, and you’re never in his peripheral vision. He hears every word before you speak it. He knows every thought before you think it. He feels every movement of your heart as if it were his own.
He knows your deepest dreams and your deepest pains. Every hurt matters to him. He hold you so close, close to his heartbeat. He has the answer for every question you’ve ever asked. No matter how many times you feel lost, he will always be there to rescue you again.
He understands you. He knows you. He Sees you.
Psalm 139:1-16 CEV
(1) (A psalm by David for the music leader.) You have looked deep into my heart, LORD, and you know all about me.
(2) You know when I am resting or when I am working, and from heaven you discover my thoughts.
(3) You notice everything I do and everywhere I go.
(4) Before I even speak a word, you know what I will say,
(5) and with your powerful arm you protect me from every side.
(6) I can't understand all of this! Such wonderful knowledge is far above me.
(7) Where could I go to escape from your Spirit or from your sight?
(8) If I were to climb up to the highest heavens, you would be there. If I were to dig down to the world of the dead you would also be there.
(9) Suppose I had wings like the dawning day and flew across the ocean.
(10) Even then your powerful arm would guide and protect me.
(11) Or suppose I said, "I'll hide in the dark until night comes to cover me over."
(12) But you see in the dark because daylight and dark are all the same to you.
(13) You are the one who put me together inside my mother's body,
(14) and I praise you because of the wonderful way you created me. Everything you do is marvelous! Of this I have no doubt.
(15) Nothing about me is hidden from you! I was secretly woven together deep in the earth below,
(16) but with your own eyes you saw my body being formed. Even before I was born, you had written in your book everything I would do.
After the credits rolled, there was one line that kept rolling around in my head, when Norm was teaching Jake about the Na’vi culture.
JAKE: (practicing) I see you. I see you.
NORM: But it’s not just “I’m seeing you in front of me.” It’s, “I see into you. I See you. I’m accepting you. I understand you.”
I See you.
How often do we really See the people around us? I’m sure you know what it feels like when you’re having a bad day and all you want is for someone to look you in the eyes and ask if you’re doing okay, but then life moves on and no one does. No one seems to really stop and acknowledge you as a person.
After all, isn’t this what we really want? Of course everyone wants to be loved, but a general warm fuzzy isn’t enough. We long to be Seen…to be Known. Intimately. We want to be accepted and understood. And we go through so much of our lives feeling like we’re missing it.
It’s so easy to transfer that feeling to God, as well. Of course he knows everything—he’s God, after all—but does he See me? Is this prayer really heard, or is it more like a message in a bottle, thrown out into the ocean? Are his eyes really on me?
Grab the nearest Bible (or just go to www.biblegateway.com) and check out Genesis chapter 16. Don’t worry, it’s short. I’ll wait for you.
Now go back to verse 13.
Genesis 16:13 – Hagar thought, “Have I really seen God and lived to tell about it?” So from then on she called him, “The God Who Sees Me.”
The God who Sees me.
This really hit home for me a few months ago. I remember coming home after a powerful encounter with God. He hadn’t answered all of my questions in the way I wanted him to, but he had shown me beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was with me. That night, I wrote a poem/song that went: “I don’t have to know anything, but that you know me. I don’t have to see anything, but that you see me…” I still don’t have all the answers, but I know that I am Seen by the one who made me. And honestly, that’s enough.
I promise you, my sisters, that there is nothing in the world like knowing that God Sees you. His eyes are always on you, and you’re never in his peripheral vision. He hears every word before you speak it. He knows every thought before you think it. He feels every movement of your heart as if it were his own.
He knows your deepest dreams and your deepest pains. Every hurt matters to him. He hold you so close, close to his heartbeat. He has the answer for every question you’ve ever asked. No matter how many times you feel lost, he will always be there to rescue you again.
He understands you. He knows you. He Sees you.
Psalm 139:1-16 CEV
(1) (A psalm by David for the music leader.) You have looked deep into my heart, LORD, and you know all about me.
(2) You know when I am resting or when I am working, and from heaven you discover my thoughts.
(3) You notice everything I do and everywhere I go.
(4) Before I even speak a word, you know what I will say,
(5) and with your powerful arm you protect me from every side.
(6) I can't understand all of this! Such wonderful knowledge is far above me.
(7) Where could I go to escape from your Spirit or from your sight?
(8) If I were to climb up to the highest heavens, you would be there. If I were to dig down to the world of the dead you would also be there.
(9) Suppose I had wings like the dawning day and flew across the ocean.
(10) Even then your powerful arm would guide and protect me.
(11) Or suppose I said, "I'll hide in the dark until night comes to cover me over."
(12) But you see in the dark because daylight and dark are all the same to you.
(13) You are the one who put me together inside my mother's body,
(14) and I praise you because of the wonderful way you created me. Everything you do is marvelous! Of this I have no doubt.
(15) Nothing about me is hidden from you! I was secretly woven together deep in the earth below,
(16) but with your own eyes you saw my body being formed. Even before I was born, you had written in your book everything I would do.
