Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
- Isaiah 7:14
 
Immanuel … the name means “God with us.”
 
For people facing judgment and exile, God’s presence could create both fear and hope.
 
Nothing is hidden from God. He sees every mistake and every misdeed. He knows what we say, what we do, what we feel … the devices and desires of our hearts. He has access to all of the evidence against us. 
 
Our guilty consciences cause us to tremble in his presence. Adam and Eve hid from him and so do we. We deny our sins. We blameshift and switchtrack and groupthink, as if that will make a difference.
 
Nothing is hidden from God. He hears every beautiful note we play. He sees every effort, every hidden kindness, every drop of generosity. He knows the hand we were dealt and how we’ve played it. To paraphrase Brené Brown, he knows “we’re doing the best we can.”
 
Our hearts swell when we imagine a God who looks on us and chooses to love us, who finds reasons to love us, who will never stop loving us. God’s covenant commitment to his people transforms them. We become who we were always meant to be as we receive his gift of love.
 
What do you think God sees when he sees you? Take your emotional temperature today around this question: what does it mean to me that “God is with us”?