Prayer & Consenting to Be Searched-Out by God

My neighbor's back yard

God is all-knowing. It follows from this that God knows us completely. C.S. Lewis said we are completely known to God - known like earthworms, cabbages, and nebulae, as objects of divine knowledge. Lewis wrote: "This is our destiny whether we like it or not. But though this knowledge never varies, the quality of our being known can." (In Yancey, Prayer, K1157)

While it's true that God knows us completely and thoroughly, we may not consent to being known by God. Philip Yancey writes:

"We can assent with all our will to be so known; we can unveil before God; we can offer ourselves to view. We can invite God into our lives and ourselves into God’s. When we do that, putting ourselves on a personal footing with God, so to speak, relationship heats up and a potential for extraordinary friendship stirs to life. For God is a Person, too, and though a person unlike ourselves, One who surely fulfills more of what that word means, not less." (Yancey, Philip, Prayer, Kindle Locations 1158-1161)

God will not force himself on us. Like the psalmist who prayed "Search me, O God, and know my heart," we must consent to be searched-out by God. Without this prayer will often be a one-way street, with God being disinvited to the conference.

Pray today: Search me, O God.