“Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.” Hosea 6:3

 

It’s time to seek to know the heart of God!

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I wonder if we really realize how much God wants us to know Him. Do we understand that He wants us to press on to know Him… to strive to the best of our ability to comprehend Who He is?

 

At the time when Hosea wrote this passage, life for God’s people had been rough. God had administered some tough love because of their actions. He wanted their hearts to be turned back to Him. Oh, they had kept Him as God in word and tradition; they still called Him their God and made sacrifices to keep Him appeased, but they had embraced “other gods” and followed the leadership of heathens.

 

Later in this chapter of Hosea, God says, “I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.” (vs. 6) God wanted His people to really know Him. There’s an old saying: “To know me is to love me.” Well, that’s really what God was looking for here.

 

When we take the time and have the determination to really get to know someone, it makes all the difference in our relationship. The motives of our interactions with people we have close relationships with change from “I have to” to “I want to.” The HAVE comes from a sense of duty, the WANT comes from a heart of love. That’s where God wants our relationship with Him to come from, to be motivated by love rather than duty.

 

Has being a Christian become rote? Do we go to church because we have to? Do we read the Bible because we’re supposed to? Is our prayer life mundane and “listy”? Has God been administering some tough love in our lives? Is He trying to get us to wake up to the fact that our relationship with Him is bordering on an acquaintance rather than a true love? “Oh, that we might know the Lord!”

 

How appropriate that the lyrics of the song “Getting to know you” come from the musical The King and I! Let’s get to know Him. Let’s, to the best of our ability, get to know Who He really is. Let’s strive to understand His heart and how much He loves us. And as we seek Him with our whole heart, as we pray and read His Word, “He will respond to us as surely as the coming dawn.” We can be assured that He will reveal Himself to us. He will fall upon us as the spring rains fall on the earth, and He will soak us with His essence. He wants us to know Him. He won’t withhold. “And I will give them an heart to know me… for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.” (Jeremiah 24:7)

 

Reminder: God wants us to know Him—Let’s press on!