Known Caller

There's a cool song on the new U2 album (No Line on the Horizon) titled "Unknown Caller." According to an interview with the band in Rolling Stone magazine, the lyrics were inspired by the passage from Jer. 33:3 in which the Lord tells the prophet, "'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.." And sure enough, the song references the vantage point of someone unable to sleep, noting that the clock is at 3:33 a.m., calling out to God.

Recently I was awake from about 1 a.m. onward, wrestling with many current events and decisions. Sometimes in life I get caught up in attempting to do things solely out of my own strength, and at some point I become reduced to the humbling place of simply needing to dial into the darkness in the hope of finding some answers…or at least some respite.

There are so many unsearchable things I do not know. This night was one of those instances. It often happens in the still of night, when I feel I have so little control over circumstances.

In some contrast to the title of the U2 song, however, I believe that I am a known caller. I have a healthy sense that God does know my name and he knows when I call. He would like me to call more often--in fact, he's all about an unbroken line of conversation called praying without ceasing.

He does not forget who I am, even when I do.