I think born in each of us is an emptiness, the need to be known. As a child, it is fulfilled by our parents, siblings, and extended family as we grow and develop. One has to spend only a short amount of time with a small child before it becomes obvious that the child wants to be known.  As a preschool teacher, I have encountered children who make pictures, share too personal information (as adults we call it “TMI”), give a hug or a high five, or, in some cases, act out–just to be known.

This continues throughout elementary school and follows into high school. So many teens aspire to be a “popular” kid. Some teens try to be perfect, striving for awards, some try to break records in athletics or academics, and some try every drug or negative-to-be-known-behavior as a cry for attention. Most teens today, above wealth, power, or even happiness, aspire to FAME as their highest goal. And sadly, some teens take their own lives in a last desperate attempt to be known.

As adults, we want the important job, the amazing kid, the newest or best; maybe make it into the city paper. But in recent years, we have the onslaught of the E-world, feeding our insatiable cravings to be known. First, it was blogging, then Facebook, now Twitter. Some out there in cyberspace have a desire for their every action or thought to be known by others. I have seen statuses such as  “off to the grocery store” or “making roast and mashed potatoes for dinner”; some people are addicted to being known by others–they’re not just dispensing their schedule.

WE WERE CREATED WITH A DESIRE TO BE KNOWN. It’s a God given desire. We are partially fulfilled by being known and knowing others. But people alone will never fill that need. One could have a perfect family and wonderful friends, be popular in the community, have thousands of friends on Facebook, a million Twitter followers, and the most popular blog on the planet, but that person will still never feel KNOWN if they don’t know the ONE who knows them completely.

Psalm 139 says, “O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD…”

You are not obscure. You are KNOWN by the ONE who knows you completely. And HE wants YOU to know HIM.

The Psalm continues, “My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.”

And hopefully, that’s enough.