God knows how you feel, even when you feel insignificant

I was driving back to Southeast Missouri the other day from St. Louis and I needed to make a couple of phone calls. It's hard to imagine what we did in the car without cell phones, MP3s and DVDs.

I began to scan my contact list, looking for a number that I was sure was there. It wasn't. I found phone numbers for a couple of restaurants, family members and friends. But there was one contact there that caused me to pause when I came across it. I could call, but no one would answer. I knew the number no longer worked, but I did not want to delete it. The number was for a mentor and friend who had gone home to be with the Lord.

Do you ever have one those moments when you feel like the smallest person in the universe, moments of staring up into the heavens on a crystal-clear night and seeing how the stars continue on and on, creating that feeling of being so insignificant in the universe? These are moments when the rationalist concludes that life has no meaning and we are ants in a cosmic ant farm. The romantic is caught in the passion of the moment and the drive to make every moment count. For Christians, these are moments that should cause them to feel small but in that minuteness comes a great strength that the Lord knows every detail, every breath, every hair.

Proverbs 14:10 reads, "Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can fully share its joy." The depths of joy and pain that each of us feel are in reality our own emotions. No one can feel the same as we do.

I have a couple of general rules when people come to me for pastoral counseling. The primary one is never say "I know how you feel." In reality no one but you knows how you feel. Others can sympathize and identify with you. They may have even been in identical situations as you but they do no know how you feel.

The beauty of this proverb is God knows how you feel. You have secret pains you have shared with no one, but no secret can be kept from God. He knows every detail of your pain and your joy.

Rob Hurtgen is a husband, father and serves as the associate pastor at the First Baptist Church in Jackson. Read more from him at www.robhurtgen.wordpress.com.