He knows.

He knows —

that would be the way I would wrap up my first week of 2024.

He knows my name, and He knows the distress of my soul.

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I was reading through 1 Samuel and Psalm 31 this past week, and I have not been able to stop listening to this new cover of “You Know My Name” by Housefires. As I was reading though Psalm 31, I came across verses 7-8, “I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my soul, and you have not delivered me into the hands of my enemy; you have set my feet in a broad place.”

This one verse, “you have known the distress of my soul” keeps standing out to me, and I love it so much because I’m reminded of who God is in the midst of pain.

While I have never been in the same danger that David was in of running for his literal life, I’m reminded of hard seasons where the trials weren’t always self-inflicted and it felt like everything was coming at me from all sides.

The seasons where I couldn’t quite reason or reconcile the why, and where it seemed like everything I did to try to fix things only made them that much worse.

The seasons where hopelessness and despair clung closer to my heart than joy and hope did.

The seasons where I had to grow to know God, not just in theory, but in who He really was/is:

Friend - closer than a brother. (Pr. 18:24)

Comforter - comforting me so that I can comfort others in the same way. (2 Cor. 1:3-4)

Defender - my refuge and my fortress. (Ps. 91)

Deliverer - who has delivered me out of every trouble. (2 Samuel 4:9)

Was, and Is, and Is to come.

Reading back through 1 Samuel, it’s amazing to see how David could walk through so much, and still make time to take stock in the rightful character of God. Hard seasons have a way of hardening our hearts and leaving us in bitterness if we’re not careful. But David didn’t allow his pain to overshadow who God was, and he didn’t allow his feelings to dictate truth. He reminded himself of the deeply intimate fact that even though he was walking through tough circumstances, God was close enough to Him to know everything that David was feeling in his soul.

Just like He’s close enough to you.

Friend, if you’re in a season where the darkness seems dark, know that

you are not forgotten.

He has not abandoned you,

& you are not left defenseless.

There is One who knows the distress of your soul and knows your name.