1 Samuel 16:7
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.

Our inner thoughts are the only things that are truly our own. We can share them with others through imperfect expressions like words or pictures or gestures. But no one else can ever fully appreciate what is in our minds and hearts. Except God. The place that He looks to in order to see us—really see us, the real us—is the place that no one else really gets to see into. We can make assumptions and guesses based on what we see, maybe compared to our own minds and hearts. But we can never get that glimpse that God has deep down inside to who we really are.

Sometimes that’s a frustrating thing. We want to be understood. We want compassion and love from other people. But they can’t see into the part of us that is truly us. They can’t relive a lifetime of experiences and emotions and circumstances and trials from our perspective, with our heart, with our mind, with our soul attached and see who we really are. But God can.

How amazing is it that the one place no one else can see is where God’s focus is? God is the only one who can see what our true intentions are, what our attitude is, what we’re really thinking. God is the only one who can see the ache deep inside, the hurt and the pain despite the smile on the outside. Only God can see our desperation and longing or that one moment our heart skips a beat out of pure joy. Only God can see the truth deep in each of us when our lips can only manage a few fumbled, stuttered words that don’t even scratch the surface of how we feel. He can see the quiet praise that doesn’t manifest in a shouted “amen” or a raised hand. He hears the prayers never uttered aloud, the cries for help that don’t even elicit a whisper.

That kind of makes our heart a special place, doesn’t it? It’s what God sees when He looks at us. So shouldn’t we keep it clean for Him? Keep it special for Him? Give it wholly to Him? Everyone else who looks at us will either see what they want to see or what we want them to see. But what does God see when He looks at us? Does He see Jesus residing there within? Is our heart cluttered with sin or idols? Is our mind focused on the cares of this world, a worry, a desire, another love?

God knows us, even if it’s a version of us that no one else has ever seen. And God loves us—the us we are in our hearts—even if we don’t love Him back. And God wants us, and He wants our hearts all to Himself. Are we willing to give Him that?