In conversation, we often hear people say: “I know”…………. “I know what you mean” ……….. or “I know how you feel”.  King David wrote this:  For I know my transgressions and my sin is always before me.”  Now, David knew the depth of his sinning; that is a terrible knowing whether it is David or you or I.  He didn’t start out with that knowledge ……………. He knew that all people were sinners. (We know that all people are sinners)   He knew that adultery and murder were sins in the sight of God.  He knew that he had committed both sins.  But, he does not “know” his transgressions until the Lord sends Nathan.  Even after Nathan tells David a story, which should have given David a clue, he doesn’t “know” it is he who Nathan is talking about until he is boldly told that it is he, David, who is that man.  After hearing that, David acknowledges his sin …………his crossing the line.  And again, that is a terrible knowing.

Sometimes I think I get a little glimpse of what David was talking about in the Psalms.  I remember when I discovered the true nature of my illness last summer.  That was a terrible knowing.  I knew that everyone dies at some point ……I knew that at some point in my life I would die.  I knew I hadn’t been feeling well.  I knew that my kind of cancer is often incurable, but I didn’t really “know” my condition until the doctor pronounced what was going to take place.  Even then, I don’t think I really acknowledged my condition until I accepted the truth of just how bad off I really was.  That was a terrible knowing.

Jesus says: “I know my sheep”;  Paul writes: “I want to know Christ”;  and later he says that the Lord “knows” those who are his”.  It seems to me that there can be some real sadness in this world when we find out just how bad off we most likely are when it comes to sinning.  King David isn’t the only one who needed to be told it was he who had to come to grips with his transgression.   God’s terrible knowing of the world’s sin ……………….. his terrible knowing of yours and my sin would be a horrible thing if it wasn’t balanced by Jesus’ complete payment for that sin on our behalf.  Now folks, that is a knowing which is not terrible.  May God so bless us all with that knowledge.

                                         Yours in Christ,

                                                                                                                                                                      Pastor Jake