When they told me my first grandbaby was on the way, I knew right away that it would be a boy.

To communicate the idea of a grandchild to me, my wife had handed me one of the many dolls that are in the home where I was residing. I took one look at that doll, all dressed up in pink, and I just knew this was wrong. I marched over to the crib where the dolls were kept, I threw that imposter back with the others and very carefully chose one that was decked out in blue: a baby boy!

Because my grandchild would be born in China where parents aren’t routinely told the gender of their baby, I figured my knowledge wouldn’t be confirmed until birth. About midway through the pregnancy, however, a kind ultrasound technician let it slip: My grandchild would, indeed, be a grandson!

How could it be that I, half a world away, knew that my unborn grandchild would be a boy? I can assure you that it had nothing to do with me desiring a grandson over a granddaughter. Both would have been equally special. To be honest, I have no idea how I knew. But I did.

I often wonder just how it is that God knows so much about me? Is my life such an open book?

Yet the Bible teaches us that God does, indeed, know us: “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, you, Lord, know it completely.” (Psalm 139:1-4 NIV).

Have you ever stopped to contemplate this? God knows us so well that He knows the words that are on our tongues before we even speak them! I will admit that this can be a scary thought, as some of the words that form on my tongue really do need to be swallowed! Yet this text teaches us that God knows even the words we swallow!

I hope everyone understands how much I love this unborn baby. Even though he isn’t born yet and I don’t really know him, and even though he will be born in China and I won’t get to see him often, he already makes me happy and proud.

What really blows my mind lately is how much God loves me! He says:

“The Lord your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17 NKJV)

Wait! Despite the fact that He knows the parts of me that wouldn’t make Him very happy, He rejoices over me with gladness and with singing? He quiets me with His love?

I would love to be able to say I will always be there for my grandson. However, although I don’t know how many more years I will have on this earth, I am pretty sure that I will leave it before my grandson does. God, on the other hand, promises that He will never leave us or forsake us (see Deuteronomy 31:6, Joshua 1:9, Matthew 28:20)! He promises that nothing can separate us from Him! Not even death (see Romans 8:38-39)! And while, due to the fact that my grandson will be born in China, I can’t live with and walk with him, God promises to live with and walk with us! “As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.’” (2 Corinthians 6:16 NIV)

No, I can never be the grandpa to my grandson that I want to be, but anyone who accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior will have that Someone in their lives who: a) knows them; b) loves them unconditionally; c) rejoices over them with gladness and singing; d) will never leave them or forsake them; and e) who walks with them daily!

That’s mind-bogglingly amazing! I’m going to meditate on this a little while, and I encourage you to do the same!

Oh. My grandson will be born sometime this week, and by the time you are reading this devotional, he will, God willing, be about a year old. I look forward to meeting my grandson at Christmas time this year so he can get to know the grandpa who knew he was a boy and loves him so much. But my biggest prayer is that one day he will get to know our amazing God, whose love is so much better than a grandpa’s!

Inspired by Rob Chaffart
Founder, Answers2Prayer Ministries