READ: PSALM 139; ROMANS 8:26-39; HEBREWS 11:1

I know what to do. I know how to act, how to look, how to speak. I can recite His words from memory. I know how to find Bible verses in thirty seconds flat. I go to church every week, and I take sermon notes. I can show everyone that I follow Him. I know what to do.

I know what I should do. I know I should read the Bible every day. I can talk to Him whenever I want, and I should do it every day. I know He loves me, and I should praise Him for it. I know I should tell everyone I meet about Him. I should feel confident because I know the Good News. I know what I should do.

I don’t know what to do. I don’t always feel His presence. I don’t feel peaceful or strong; I feel anxious. I don’t know whether I am serving Him or only my own pride. I don’t feel full of love and hope; I feel like a decorated empty shell. I don’t feel like His child; I feel like an imposter. I don’t know what to do.

He knows me. He knows my every fault and failure. He understands my joy and pain, my strongest desires, and my deepest regrets. He calls me to His side, even when I am too self-focused to hear. He claimed me as His own before I took my first breath. He tells me nothing in this or any world can stop His love for me. He knows me, and that’s all I need to know. • Andi Potter

• Can you think of a time you felt like the narrator in today’s poem? As Christians, we’ll all have times when we feel distant from Jesus, when we feel lost and confused, when we might even wonder if we really belong to Him. Thankfully, Jesus’s love for us is unending, His forgiveness is unshakable—and He knows we need reminders of this!

• Because God loves us so dearly, Jesus died on the cross to forgive our sins and rose from the grave to give us new life. Once we’ve put our trust in Jesus, we can know that we are forever secure in His love. How could it be freeing to remember that God knows us—including how desperately we need Him? (For more about what it means to be in Christ, check out our "Know Jesus" page).

• In Psalm 139:7-12, what does David say about how far Jesus is willing to pursue us? (If you want to dig deeper, read Luke 15; John 3:16-17; Ephesians 1:13-14; 2:1-10; Romans 8:38-39.)

• Jesus always invites us to talk to Him about all our struggles, and He also provides fellow Christians we can talk to. Who are trusted Christians in your life you can share your struggles with—people who will listen to you, pray with you and for you, and remind you of Jesus’s love and forgiveness? (If no one comes to mind, you can ask God to help you identify someone in the future.)

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24 (NIV)