God Is on Your Sideনমুনা

DEEP CALLING DEEP

In John 1:47-50, we read what happened when Nathanael, one of the original disciples, first encounters Jesus.

When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him,“Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”

“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.

Jesus answered,“I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi,you are the Son of God;you are the king of Israel.” (NIV)

We’re not told what Nathanael was doing under the fig tree, but Jesus sees Nathanael before he comes to see Jesus. Jesus knows Nathanael before he comes to know Jesus. This is what draws him to worship Jesus.

Nathanael sees Jesus seeing him. And it changes everything.

Jesus sees your situ­ation today, he knows your backstory, he is privy to the “fig trees” where you thought you were all alone. God’s Spirit searches beneath the surface like deep calling to the deep of your ocean floor (Psalm 42:7). He cares about the whole you. Body and soul.

Maybe God feels like a distant stranger, Jesus an odd curiosity. But the gospel invites you to come close to the One who’s already come close to you. 1 John 4:19 tells us that we love because God “first loved us.”

Encoun­tering God’s gaze of divine love is what draws you to worship.

Is that too good to be true? That even when your world blows up, God is in it with you, seeing you, fighting for you and working for your good? That even when you feel rejected, discarded, and alone, you can know in your bones that Jesus is on your side?

Because the God who saw Nathanael sees you, too. Not from a distance, but face to face, with mercy in his eyes. Eyes that notice everything about you. Your story and gifts, your desires and wounds, your trophies and scars.

Let that gaze draw you near today—not to perform, but to simply be with the One who’s already with you.

What parts of your story—your wounds, your gifts, your struggles—do you find it hardest to believe God truly knows and cares about?