by: Cris Corzine-McCloskey
An analogy by Bill Johnson has stuck in my head. He loves watching his kids play sports. He gets their team jersey, puts their name on the back, and sits in the stands to cheer them on. Whenever they make a play, he stands up, waves his arms above his head, and yells “Who’s kid is that?!” He compared this to the way God watches us. Enraptured by our antics, wildly cheering on our victories. Proudly yelling, “Who’s kid is that?!” when we get it right. Telling us to get up and try again when we fall.
I love that, and I believe it’s true. So did King David. In Psalm 139:3 he claimed God was “intimately acquainted” with all his ways. And in Psalm 139:17-18 he said God’s thoughts of him were immeasurable and compared the frequency of those thoughts to the grains of sand on a seashore. I think we can all agree that’s some intense focus on God’s part.
But in case you are thinking God only thought of David that often, let’s look at what Jesus said. In Luke 12:7 Jesus tells us God has the hairs on our head counted and numbered. I don’t know about you, but I have a lot of hair. And I shed (my husband gripes every time he has to clean it out of the drain). Yet, according to Jesus, God is so intently focused on me He knows each time I lose a strand.
The fifteenth-century theologian, Angelus Silesius, made this profound statement, “If God stopped thinking of me He would cease to exist.” Before you go yelling “Blasphemy,” let me qualify that. Included in the attributes of God are the facts that He is omniscient (a fancy way of saying all-knowing) and omnipresent (everywhere at all times). Guess what? That means God, by His very definition, is thinking of you. All day. Every day.
That used to freak me out. I pictured God as some Bi-Polar Cosmic Stalker. Some days I thought He liked me, but mostly I imagined Him frowning at me and shaking His head. In my mind, He was always itching to smite me. In fact, I thought Jesus was the only thing that stood between me and a good smiting. I kid you not. That’s how little I understood God’s love, Jesus sacrifice, and the gift of grace.
Check this out, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Christ Jesus…He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus (Romans 3:23-24&26).”
Do you understand what that is saying? God’s a Cosmic Stalker alright, He can’t help Himself, because He is mad about you. Not mad at you. Your faith in Jesus has made you right in His sight. You are never alone, and He is always on your side. And if there are jerseys in heaven, guess who’s name would be on the back of it? Now you’re getting the picture. So next time you forgive someone or pray for your enemy, listen real close, and I bet you hear Him yelling, “Who’s kid is that?!”
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