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Sweet truth is this!
(From Winslow's, "Christ's Knowledge
of His People; Their Ignorance of Him")
Our highest source of comfort lies,
not in our knowledge of Christ,
but in Christ's knowledge of us.
We too imperfectly deal with Jesus personally.
We too little bring our individual sorrows,
needs, and circumstances to Christ.
And yet what a comforting truth is this, and
not comforting only, but deeply sanctifying:
Jesus knows me personally,
Jesus has my name on His heart,
Jesus has my position in His mind,
Jesus has my circumstances in His eye,
Jesus is acquainted with my individual state in society,
with my trials, temptations, sorrows, and needs.
Such is His individual and discriminating knowledge;
He knows me as if I were the only one He owns and
acknowledges on earth!
Sweet truth is this!
If you retire to your chamber to brood in solitude
and silence over your lonely griefs, perhaps, with
the sad thought, "no one knows me, no one
sympathizes with me, no one is acquainted with
my case, I am like a sparrow alone on the house
top. I pray, and sigh, and groan in lonely places,
and no one cares for my soul."
Oh, beloved child of God, there is One who knows
you, knows your name, your position, your griefs,
your temptations, your loneliness, who says,
"I know their sorrows," -it is Jesus.
Lord, are you acquainted with such a poor, sinful worm as I?
Do you, Lord, care for me; think of me; love me?
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is like Yourself, Divine!
"The foundation of God stands fast, having
this seal, the Lord knows those who are His."
Here is your comfort, your safety, and your hope:
Jesus knows you,
Jesus is acquainted with you,
Jesus has His unslumbering eye upon you,
and you can be in no circumstance of sorrow,
of peril, of darkness, and of need, in which
Christ shall not know and recognize you as
His child, and most dearly beloved.
Let the thought of Christ's knowledge of us
be an ever present, ever abiding remembrance.
When darkness or sorrow veils Him from our view,
still let us cling to the truth that He knows us;
and when sin would tempt, and the world seduce,
and the creature ensnare, and some false attraction
would disturb the central fixedness of our heart on
Christ, oh, let the solemn truth that Jesus knows
us then instantly break the spell, dissolve the
enchantment, and win back the soul to its
allegiance and love!
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