Pursue Knowing God - Hosea 6:3

"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

About a month ago, i was reading through the book of Hosea and verse 6:3 caught my eye. Over the course of a few weeks, God kept bringing me back to this passage. Eventually, i went online to a handy little site called biblos.com  (worth checking out for when You want to dig into a Bible passage) and did some research. There were two words that changed how i viewed this verse; radaph and yada.

Where it says "Let us press on to know Him", the word used for press on is the Hebrew word radaph. The definition of radaph is "to pursue, chase, persecute". There's nothing half hearted or laid back about it. It's an aggressive, almost violent word.

The word used for know in both places is the word yada. Yada has a longer list of definitions than radaph and is slightly harder piece into this puzzle but is fascinating when You find it's place. While some of it's definitions include "to acknowledge, to be acquainted with, to be aware of" it was "to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing)" that really stuck out to me. To know by seeing. Think about it.

Reread Hosea 6:3 with those words in mind. The writer says "Let us be very intentional about pursuing knowing God, through both heart and head knowledge but also by seeing Him move with our very own eyes." It's not just enough to know in Your head that God is provider; see in Your life that He is. You might say that, yes, God is a healer, but have You seen it with Your eyes? Hosea invites You to pursue that kind of knowing God.

God wants to be pursued -indeed, He's the one who gives us strength to pursue Him if we ask Him- and He will respond to Your efforts. If You feel as if You've been pouring into Your God-relationship but You're not seeing anything for it, be encouraged! God responds to every bit of effort You put forth. It might not be what You expect or when You expected it but Hosea 6:3 promises if You run after Him, He will reward Your efforts.

Think about it.

The Opportunities Around Us: Snow

"Your love for one another will prove to the
 world that you are my disciples." -John 13:35

Less important part: It snowed today. I spent most of it bundled up inside doing nothing; enjoying the last day of my school break. My day was nearly uneventful until, at 10:30 pm, my mum and i remembered that we had to drop her car off at the shop. I put my bass aside, suited up, got in the car, icy roads, yadda yadda yadda... bunch of things related to me going to mechanic's and dropping off a car but entirely unrelated to the message.

I got home and was going to go inside when i happened to look across the street to where, in about 7 hours, many of my public schooled peers will be shivering in the cold, waiting for a bus to pick them up. God started making me think how uncomfortable it must be standing in the cold and in a few inches of snow. He suggested that maybe i couldn't take the cold away for them, but i could take away the snow.  So at 11:00pm on a Sunday night, i grabbed my snow shovel and started clearing away where they'd have to stand. I then went and shoveled a number of sidewalk; they need not walk in the snow either.

Part worth reading: God had me out there for a good half hour and with every scoop of snow, God kept whispering these ideas in my mind: What would happen if His Church took advantage of this seemly troublesome snowstorm. What if we brought some coffee or bagels out to the kids waiting in the freezing cold for their bus to arrive? Surely that'd be a good time to share the Love of Christ. What if we shoveled our neighbor's driveway and sidewalk, rang the door and told them something along the lines of "Hi! I shoveled Your driveway. I don't want money. What i want is for You to know that Jesus loves You so much."? There are so many different things we could do!

Friends, unbelievers have grown tired of all our talk and church rhetoric. Instead, let's show them the Love of Christ. It might create some inconveniences but the snow is a blessing from God. Let's not let this cold weather pass us by unused.

Our time here is short, but the opportunities around us are endless.