To be loved is to be seen

They say to be loved is to be seen. To be seen and to be known so intimately. To be known so intimately and to be loved regardless. To have flaws, mistakes, scars, and all out in the open, but to be loved despite them. To be chosen over and over again, even when you say no. To be sought after day after day relentlessly, endlessly. I sound like I am talking about movie-type love, right? The one where the guy gets the girl in the end. The one that always has a happy ending. The one where everything cannot help but be perfect. However, the problem with love in movies is that it's often conditional, and there is always that painful 15 minutes where the guy and the girl are apart due to something one of them said or did, or didn't say or do. If you are asking for my opinion (which, if you're reading this, is automatic) that 15 minutes shouldn't be there. Love, as portrayed in the movies, needs to be more forgiving and accepting. Thing is, in the movies and in real life, it isn't.

You may have noticed that there is a verse right on top of all this text. That is my main focus today. You may be wondering what this has to do with being loved, or maybe you just wanna see my take on it. Either way, you're here and so am I, so let's do this. Psalm 139 is a favorite for a lot of people because it talks about how God knows us inside out and he has searched us. It talks about how we cannot run away from his presence, no matter where we go, because spoiler alert, he is never going to leave us nor forsake us. It's also the same chapter that has fearfully and wonderfully made, which we all love, right? It also talks about how God formed every last part of us. Everything we are he formed, including our inward parts (all of them, even those emotions that we like being high on).

In all my life, I had heard people speak about Psalm 139, and they talk about everything else I already mentioned, but they never talk about verse 16, which is criminal if you ask me, because that verse has changed my life and how I attempt to understand God's love. It says in the ESV, "Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." Is your mind blown yet?? Tell me this isn't mind-blowing to you!!

Let me ask you this: do your eyes see unformed substance? Do you see things that aren't there? Do you see things that don't exist and think Actually, this doesn't exist, but I love it with all my heart, and I already did all the necessary provisions to make sure this thing can live forever? I am not a parent yet, but I want to imagine that the love parents have for their children is cemented when they actually know that the child is growing in the womb. Before that, I think there's essentially nothing to love, right? You can just love the idea that you're gonna be parents (like me, I'm in love with that idea), but until the egg is fertilised and you know there's something there, there's nothing to love. 

This is why God's love and intentionality are mind-blowing! How do you see an unformed substance and love it so much that you fashion all its days? How do you already have a redemption plan for an unformed substance? Why do you have a plan for an unformed substance? I came across this verse at a time when I desperately wanted to know what God's plan for my life is, and it humbled me. My nothing was everything to God even before I was! How cool is that? That God saw you before you existed, and he loved you so much that he wrote down all your days before they were. How beautiful is that? That God regards you that much. He loves you. He has loved you since before you existed. Before you gave your life to him. Before you did anything, you may have tried to make him love you. His love for you is and always will be. Whether you like it or not, you are loved! 

To wrap this up, I'll say, to be loved really is to be seen. And dear reader, you and I are extra special because we were loved and seen when we were unformed substances! God saw us and saw how precious we are, and he made all provisions for us to be good. He loves us so much that he wants nothing but the best for us. Unformed as we were, he laid out all the days of our lives and made sure all was catered for. Our response? It should obviously be some serious thanksgiving because we did nothing to get all this, but still he loved us and chose us. If you ever think no one loves you, remember God saw you when you were non-existent and loved you just like that.