Books for Little Ones - extended notes for parents and other adult readers

God knows me

Here are some ideas for each page of the book:

1. God knows me and he loves me.

We’re not talking about God just knowing us, but reminding the children that God also loves us (this is also repeated at the end).
There is another book in this series called ‘God loves me’.
You could say to your child, “God knows this boy and he knows you too”.
You could ask questions about the boy, eg “Where do you think he lives”, “What do you think the table (point to it—he’s leaning on it) is for?”

2. God knows my name and what I look like.

To help children understand what it means that God knows us, we talk about concrete things. If you know someone, you know what their name is and what they look like.
Depending on your child’s age and understanding, you can say that God knows how tall I am, the colour of my hair, colour of my eyes etc. God even knows how many hairs we have (Matthew 10:30).
Another thing that you can talk about with your child, is that we can’t see God but God can see us.

3. God knows me because God made me.

In Psalm 139:13 we read that “You (God) created every part of me…” (we read that in ‘God made me’).
God made me. God made every part of me. God knew me even before I was born. There’s no one else who knows us better than God does. God made us. God really knows us.

4. God knows when I sit.

Psalm 139:2 says in the NIV, “You (God) know when I sit and when I rise.” ‘Rise’ means ‘get up’.
Where do you sit? On a chair. On the floor. On grass. God knows when we sit. God knows where we sit, too.
This is an example of a very specific thing that God knows.

5. God knows when I get up.

God knows when I get up, out of bed. God knows when I stand up (depending on where your child is at, it might be that you need to hold their hand when they stand. God knows that too!)
You could play a little action rhyme with your child. Either you hold their hands or they do it by themselves. “God knows when I sit (child sits) and when I get up (child stands)”. You could add other lines to the rhyme.
This is another example of a very specific thing that God knows.

6. God knows when I go out.

Psalm 139:3 says in the NIV, “You (God) discern my going out and my lying down”.
Where do you like to go? What do you wear if it’s raining? What do you wear if it’s hot?
God knows where you are right now. And if you go out, God knows that too. And God knows where you go.
Talk about places you’ve been to and thank God for those times.

7. God knows when I lie down.

When do you lie down? Night time? Rest time? God knows when you lie down. (More on this later in book).
We’re reading more and more examples of very specific things that God knows about us.

8. God knows when I’m happy.

When are you happy? When you are happy do you smile? Do you laugh?
Why do you think that this girl is happy? She looks very happy, doesn’t she!

9. God knows when I’m sad or grumpy.

Here we have two different emotions: sad and grumpy. These are quite different to talk about. The girl in the photo could be either.
There’s comfort in the knowledge that God knows when I’m sad. If there’s something making a child sad, God knows about it. He knows when we are sick, when we are hurting, when sad things happen. And God doesn’t just know, he cares enough to want us to pray to him. When your child is sad, comfort them with the truth that God knows, that God loves them and we can ask God to help us. Pray for them. Pray with them. Model a simple prayer like: “Dear God, Ben is very sad. Please help him. Thank you so much that you know him and you love him. Amen.” For an older child, you could talk to them about what they could pray. How could they ask God to help them? And going on from there, how could they pray for someone else who is sad?
One reason for being sad is being scared. There’s lots of things that can make little ones scared. I remember with my own children, and other little ones, the great comfort they can have in knowing that God knows about the storms (or whatever they are scared of) and “I can talk to God when I feel scared.” God’s ever presence, ever knowing, can be a huge comfort to them.
If God knows I’m grumpy then there’s different consequences. I define ‘grumpy’ being when one is in a bad mood. Perhaps a tantrum. Perhaps grumpiness stemming from not getting their own way. Perhaps grumpy because they have done the wrong thing and are not happy about being disciplined. With this definition, ‘grumpiness’ doesn’t need comfort like ‘sadness’ does. If it is that your child has disobeyed or done someone wrong, they can learn that God knows what they have done. They can’t hide from God. If they have done something wrong or disobedient, then the next step is to say sorry to you (or whoever they have disobeyed/hurt) and also sorry to God. I would encourage you to think through how you can respond to your child when they are grumpy. Think through how you can talk with your child, not just about the happy times, but also about the grumpy times.

10. God knows what I do and what I say.

God knows everything I do and everything I say. So God knows when we are kind, helpful and obedient. But God also knows when we do and say unkind, mean and naughty things. Think through how you can talk to your child about the implications of this.
If your child is a really little one, now isn’t the time you can have chats about this idea with your child. But I’d encourage you (regardless of how old your child is) to think about how you can help your child learn this as they grow in age and understanding. One reason for this, is so that they can appreciate what sin is. Children can think that all is ok as long as nobody knows what they have done and many children lie to cover their tracks. But we can’t lie to God. We can’t pretend that we are good all the time. We want children to grow in their awareness of their own sinfulness before God and the fact that, because God knows everything they do and say, they can’t pretend to God or lie to God. He knows.
This can lead to a great appreciation of what Christ has done for us. The following is to help you understand where to go from here (these words are not something a little one is going to fully understand now): Because we are sinful, we need Jesus as our Saviour. Many children can think that being a Christian is about being good. No. It’s about having Jesus as our Saviour because only he is good all the time, only he has never sinned (like we have). And Jesus died; so God punished Jesus instead of us. Jesus didn’t stay dead. He’s alive. So we can live with Jesus as our King, our Saviour. For more on this see Who will be King?.

11. God knows where I am, even at night when it is dark.

God can see me even when it’s dark.
God always knows where I am, he can always see me—I can never hide from God.
He isn’t asleep. He is always awake.
So I can talk to him, even at night.

12. God’s book, the Bible, says that God loves me and he knows all about me.

The Bible tells us that God knows everything I do. This is not something I have made up or I even think. It’s something I know. It’s something in God’s book, the Bible.
When we help our little ones learn about God we need to base our teaching on God’s word. Show your child your Bible. If you don’t have a Bible I encourage you to get one.

13. Psalm 139 verse 1, “Lord…you know me. You know everything I do.”

‘Lord’ means God.
We can read in the Bible that God knows us—in fact he knows everything we do.
So we are telling our children something that is true. We’re not talking about a make believe fairy with magic powers.
The book this verse comes from is the Bible, not a book of fairy tales.
See previous notes for implications of God knowing everything we do.

14. Thank you God that you know all about me and love me.

A great way to finish the book is to thank God. You (or your child) could pray just what’s written here (just one sentence) when you finish reading or another time in the day.
Remember it’s not just thanking God that he knows all about us, but that he knows all about us and he loves us.
There might be other things in the book that you might like to pray about or thank God for. The fact that God knows what we do and say (and think and feel) can also lead to praying “sorry God” and “please help me God” at the end of the day, or during the day.

Making your own ‘God knows me’ book

It would be great to make your own ‘God knows me’ book so that your child has a book which is specifically about them. In it you could include photos or drawings of your child. See the photo of a book I made for my friend Nathan.

You could put the photos in a mini album or a book with a caption for each photo (either on the facing page or below each photo). Some ideas: God knows I like…, God knows I can… etc.

Song

‘God knows’ from ‘J’ is for Jesus