We are blessed children because we have a heavenly Father who loves us just as He loves Jesus. Our Father cares so much for us that He knows the number of hairs on our head. He loved us when we were sinners. Our Lord was made a curse for us so that we could get salvation. As we read in Ezekiel, we were like an infant baby covered in blood and thrown into the open field. But our God’s love took us, washed us and made us His. This God is our Father. God wants us to know this God as a Father better and better in our life. In our troubles, suffering and in pain, our God wants us to know Him more.
Let us read from Hosea 6:3, “So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord.” We need to put every effort to know the Lord. Think of how we know different people in this world. You know the president of your country. You have seen him on TV and read about Him but you do not know him personally. Consider a brother in the church. You know him better than you know the president. You meet the brother every week and you know about his family. This is a closer knowledge of the person. But consider how you know your spouse. You see him/her daily and you know his/her likes and dislikes. This is a more intimate relationship. The relationship between a husband and wife is the one compared to the relationship between Christ and the church (Eph 05:32). We need to know the Lord with an intimate relationship.
When we don’t try to know our God, it makes God’s heart sad. Let us look at two verses to understand how God feels when we don’t know Him. In the Old Testament we read in Isaiah 1:2,3 “Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the Lord speaks, “Sons I have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me. “An ox knows its owner, and a donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know, My people do not understand.” How much God is saddened when His people do not know Him. We read in the New Testament in John 14:9, “Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” Jesus is saddened when Philip has not yet understood the Father. In John 17:3 we read, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Knowing the true God as Heavenly Father is the essence of eternal life. Apostle Paul makes a strong declaration of faith in 2 Timothy 1:12, “For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.” Paul had put every effort to know and experience God. He counted all things as loss so that he could know God (Phil 3:8). Let us also have this desire in our hearts. In John 10:14,15 Jesus says that He knows us and His own know Him. God’s own children know Him better and better.
There is a tale based on the well known chapter of Psalms 23 that illustrates this point. Once in a church there was a Bible reading competition of this chapter. Many came forward to read. At the end an old woman came up to read. While she read, the whole audience was moved and had tears in their eyes. The people asked the judge, “There is no difference in the verses that each one read, but how come only when the old woman read Psalms 23 there was a difference?” The judge replied, “Everybody knows Psalms 23, but the old woman knows the shepherd mentioned in Psalms 23!” What a testimony this was! This old woman had experienced and tasted this shepherd though all the instances in her life. We all know the Bible, but do we know the Saviour mentioned in this Bible?
In Daniel, we read in Chapter 11:32, “The people who know their God will display strength and take action”. This is a promise for us. When we know God intimately in our lives, we will be strong in the phase of trials and troubles to stand firm for God. Let us strive to experience our Father’s care and love in our lives.
