He knows me like God?

It’s often been said that no one knows us like God does.

That’s certainly a biblical statement. A thousand years before Christ was born, King David reached this remarkable realization. David wrote with his own pen, “O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.” (Psalm 139:1-2) In that same Psalm, David went on to describe not only God’s omniscience but His omnipresence—“If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me…” (Psalm 139:8-9) God’s ability and intentionality to know us personally rises above any comparison.

But there’s a close second. For this party also knows you better than your spouse. Better than your children. He even knows you better than yourself. In fact, he may know you just as well as God does, but in a disgustingly different way.

His name is Satan. The roaring lion. The great tempter. The “prince of this world”. The “Father of lies”.

As one writer phrased it, “We always stand in the cross hairs of the adversary’s scope.”

Because we never reach an earthly, utopian spiritual state that stands above the fray. Satan’s arrows fly above us and beside us. He hates what we love. He mocks what we adore. He despises the One we so desperately strive to serve. And his maliciousness is driven by one primary goal, eternally opposite of ours: to desecrate us into ruin.

But for him to succeed, he unrolls one trick down his sleeve. Like God, since he knows us better than anyone else, he attacks from that classified file. He knows how we tick. How we learn. How we grow.

And so consequently, he never strikes where we’re strong. He doesn’t challenge where we’re dominant. He doesn’t tempt where we’re disciplined. He yanks on that weak link we don’t always realize is weak.

For right when we think we’ve settled on solid ground, the ground below our feet begins to crumble. Paul attests to this when he writes, “…if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1^st Corinthians 10:12)

So how do we respond?

We can’t help the fact that Satan knows us so well. That’s one of the heartbreaking truths of his abominate existence. Our only defense is to take James’ prescription for the spiritual cure—“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.” (James 4:7-8)

We can’t control Satan’s insights, but we must control our instincts. And as children of God, our orders never vary—flee the evil one, come near to the Holy One.

Which one are you fleeing from? Which one are you coming near to? For both know you better than anyone else!