Knowing God6/19/2024 ![]() Hosea 6:3 ~ "Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth." Knowing God is far more critical to your life and mine than many are aware of. The knowledge of God, in the sense that we know of Him, have heard of Him and even believe that He is all that the Bible has revealed is not quite the same as knowing Him. James warns us in James 2:19, "You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!" It is good to know that God is, but there must be more than mere mental understanding. If that is all we have, we are in no better situation than the demons. And, perhaps, many are worse off--for even the demons shudder, whereas many live in this world with no fear of God at all. In our text today it would seem that there is a great desire to know the LORD. The nation of Israel seemed to have the desire to truly know God. But the verse that follows is a telling statement from the LORD concerning the heart of the people. "What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away" (Hosea 6:4). The same vaporous love of the descendants of Abraham is often expressed by the hearts of many who claim to desire Christ. The nation of Israel remained self-focused and not God focused. They looked to God for deliverance, for relief from sufferings, and for the betterment of their own lives. And so it is with many today, looking to know Christ, not for who He is but for what He can bring into their lives. Let me illustrate this with a view to marriage. Let us say that a man and woman marry, overwhelmingly delighted to have the other as part of their life. The man rejoices that the woman can cook, clean, and handle the ever-increasing challenge of raising the children. The woman celebrates that the man can work hard, bring in resources and is industrious around the home. They look toward each other, not for who the person is but for what they bring to the table. Rather than learning of each other in order to sacrificially love their spouse, they only learn what the other can do for them. Many will behave in the same way with the LORD. They consider the LORD Jesus as a means of some form of betterment for their own life. They read the Scriptures not to learn of the LORD but to learn what value-added information can be gleaned for themselves. They will come away from a time of reading the Bible with little comprehension--for they read it to find something for themselves rather than read it to learn of the Author. Their actual desire is self and they don't desire to know the LORD. But the great condemnation of our LORD Jesus is found in Matthew 7:23, "And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’" Four words of judgment--"I never knew you"--might be the most terrifying words ever spoken. In our text for today, the principle does still apply--but it requires a heart that desires God and not just His gifts and power. So, let me ask you: do you desire to know the LORD? You may look at your circumstances and want God to clear them up for you. You may struggle in your earthly condition and desire Christ to fix your situation. So you seek God, but your desire is for yourself. Jeremiah 29:13 says, "You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." It is the desire to know God that must press our efforts into study of His word and prayer. He has revealed Himself to us in the pages of His Scriptures and there we will discover a rich storehouse, filled to the rafters with who He is. We read in John 20:31, "But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." Jesus, in His great call to unbelievers, says this in Matthew 11:29, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." Beloved, let us run to the Bible and fill our minds and hearts with God's word, that we should learn of Him. It will be there that we discover more and more the wonder and majesty of our Savior. In His Grace, Pastor Michael
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