But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God,
how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of
the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?
(Galatians 4:9 ESV)
This verse is full of truth but I want to focus on seven
words, “or rather to be known by God.” Does that humble you? It should. These
seven words blow my mind. Paul immediately takes the focus off of man and
centers it on God. How can we turn back to our sinful ways and to the world
when the God of the universe knows us? This is what Paul so desperately wanted
the Galatians to see. This is what we so desperately need to see.
God knows us! We could not be saved apart from God doing a
work in our lives. Think about your life and your priorities. Are you living a
life that shows a love for the One who knows you? Do your affections point you
to God or to self? Paul is arguing for a life lovingly devoted to the One that
saves. To the One that creates. To the One that loves. To the One that calls.
Do you understand that? God knew you—believer—before the
universe was created. We see this clearly in Ephesians 1:4,
“…even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that
we should be holy and blameless before him…”
God set His sights on believers before the first star was in
the sky, before the sun was told to shine, before the mountains were formed,
before the water covered the earth, before the galaxies were designed. Should
this create arrogance in us? Should this bring about man-centered boasting? No,
this most humbling truth should bring us to our knees. The Sovereign Creator of
the universe chose us. David explained this best in Psalms 8:3-4,
“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and
the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of
him, and the son of man that you care for him?”
Does this sound like an arrogant man? Does this sound like a
man focused on flesh? This is a man that understood we are undeserving of
salvation, forgiveness, and an eternity in heaven. This humbled David and
should humble us, that even in the midst of all our sins, God is mindful of
man.
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