DO YOU KNOW HIM?

Hosea 4:6 “My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me.”

Do you know God? There is no more important question in all of life than that very question...Do you know God. It is the secret of true success...the source of wisdom beyond our understanding...the strength to endure in hard times. It is the one thing that should demand our constant attention and the focus of our lives. It is of more value than power or position. Yet nothing is more needed in Christianity today than knowledge of God.

Hosea was called to prophesy to the nation of Israel because this quality of life was lacking. The sins of the nation came from the absence of it. The people had been destroyed because they had rejected it. And the people of God today are no different. Look at the church today and you have to agree that the lack of the knowledge of God is the cause of wavering spirituality...inconsistency between the walk and the talk of believers...ineffectiveness in prayer...and even social righteousness, the way we act toward others, those outside our "group".

What does it mean to know God and to live with knowledge of him? To experience the kind of relationship with God that he meant for us requires us to open up our innermost being to him just like he revealed his innermost nature to us. In fact the word intimacy means "proceeding from within - inward - internal.”

And so knowledge of God is more than an accumulation of facts. It is more than ideas about him or some broad concept we've developed. Knowledge of God involves the total person: intellect, emotion, and will. And the beginning of our knowledge of God and our relationship with him comes when we know that we are known by him. Our understanding and our awareness of God are met in response to our being known by him...absolutely and thoroughly.

We should be willing to open ourselves to God. He knows are innermost thoughts and feelings anyway. A vain attempt to hide from God will only lead us into spiritual darkness. Just ask Adam and Eve. And knowing him openly will drive us to a life of integrity in him. Integrity is consistency of behavior. It is consistency between what we believe and what we do. If we are Christians and we claim to know God, then his character and his commands should be intertwined with ours. Knowing God requires integrity and a consistent life of faithfulness. And what it boils down to is obedience. Obedience is the secret of a growing knowledge of God.

Hosea addresses the lack of both intimacy and integrity in Israel. And what is said is just as true for the world today. We must strive to live in a daily intimate relationship of being searched and known by God. Opening ourselves up and daring to be real with God is very difficult for us, but it will truly lead to a life of peace and fulfillment.

The good news is...God always makes the first move. Every discovery about God and his nature is just our response to his revelation. The people of Israel were destroyed because of a lack of teaching by the priests about God.

Today we do not lack the information. Guard against a lack of knowing him as he has revealed himself to us. Our knowledge and our relationship with God begin with Christ. He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life...no man comes to the Father except through Me"