Find Someone Who Looks At You Like . . .

There's a popular meme online with the expression, "Find someone who looks at you like ___________ looks at ___________." The accompanying still picture will have someone (whose name will fill the first blank in the sentence) looking longingly at someone or something else (which will fill the second blank in the sentence). You can google "Find someone who looks at you like" and find all kinds of these pictures. Captions with them include:

"Find someone who looks at you like Justin [Bieber] looks at this sandwich."

"Find someone who looks at you like literally everyone looks at Chris Pratt." (There are four pictures with this one.)

"Find someone who looks at you like Biden looks at Obama."

There's even, "Find someone who looks at you the way this cat looks at its owner."

Angie could probably find a picture of me and say, "Find someone who looks at you like Jon looks at his ice cream."

This meme reflects a deep human desire to be seen and to be loved. To know that someone is looking at us and seeing us as special is a wonderful feeling - or a hope that we have.

I thought about this meme this morning as I reflected on Psalm 149. In verse 4 we read this description of God:

The Lord delights in his people.

God looks down at the community of his people, of which you are a part and looks at us with delight. Wow! The creator of the universe delights in you and me. Just a verse later, in light of God's posture towards us, the psalmist encourages the faithful to "sing for joy as they lie on their beds." The delight of God should spark such joy in us that we fall into our beds after a long day singing with a smile on our face.

I know that this doesn't often happen to me. But I also rarely fall into my bed with the image of God looking at me with delight. Sometimes I'm too busy feeling like I'm failing. Or I'm too busy thinking about all that I have to get done the next day. Or I'm too busy thinking about how I've been wronged. There are so many other things that lead me to forget just how God sees me.

But at least for today - right now - let's be reminded that we don't need to "find someone who looks at us like . . . " We have someone looking at us like that right now. God sees you and me and looks on at us with delight.