Following, Knowing, Becoming

Let us strive to know the LORD. His appearance is as sure as the dawn. He will come to us like the rain, like the spring showers that water the land. -- Hosea 6:3

Continuing the thought from yesterday, to have a heart like God’s that is big, open and accepting means that we must know Him.

You always become like your god. That’s just the way we are built. A people who know a bloodthirsty, hard-hearted god are a bloodthirsty hard-hearted people. People who actually know the true God -- the loving, forgiving, merciful God -- become loving, forgiving and merciful. The prophet says, “Strive to know the Lord.”

Many people, even many Christians, know only a caricature of God. Perhaps they learned it as children and never bothered to go beyond that. Perhaps their own life experiences have been so traumatic that they have difficulty believing in a genuinely GOOD Divinity. You see it often among atheists and agnostics. Their concept of God is ludicrously limited and twisted. While you might not blame me for refusing to believe in a cartoon version of the Almighty, it remains my responsibility to strive to know the truth.

The good thing for me about Hosea’s admonition is that it includes a promise. If I make the effort to know God, He will certainly respond. As James echoes, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” As surely as dawn breaks over the horizon to dispel the darkness, the light of God’s truth will dispel the darkness of ignorance and doubt in my soul.

Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is. -- 1 John 3:2

Some want to become god-like without becoming like God. It is a bad idea.

There is still more to the promise. As we draw near to God we not only receive light, we receive life. “He will come to us like the rain.” One of the reasons God gave the Israelites the hill country was to teach them dependence. Unlike the “well-watered valley of the Jordan”, the hill country is only green and productive when you are getting regular rainfall. Without my seeking after the Lord, my life becomes dry and barren. As I follow on to know the Lord, however, He comes with the water of the Spirit to revive and refresh.

Father, today as I look for You, let Your grace rain down upon me that I may become like You in righeousness, in love and in mercy, in all things.