I had a sad conversation with a close friend a few years ago. He and his wife were leaving Christianity for another religion. One of the things he said struck me deep in the heart; he said that no one could know God. In the following years I found many who remained in the faith of Christianity, though they also believed they could not know God. However, though God’s thoughts and ways are not like our own, the Lord asks us to be proud in the fact that we know Him (Jer 9:24).
In all our busyness serving God, when did this pagan notion of serving a god we don’t know enter Christianity? Perhaps it has always been there. Men sacrifice their time and money because Jesus sacrificed His life. It became a natural step for pagans who converted to Christianity to institute the ritual of sacrifice. But it is a different thing to become like someone in appearance by copying their life, then to be as them in essence. The former takes observation; the latter takes knowledge of the heart.
Men study one another to be like one another. Yet those who never take the time to be in each other's presence only attain a ritualistic resemblance of that which they strive to attain. The secret of men’s hearts remains theirs to share with those whom they are intimate with. God only shares His secrets and His very nature with those who seek Him for Who He is.
The scriptures tell us that those who stand in God’s presence have clean hands and a pure heart (Ps 24:3-4). King David knew God, and He knew that his heart must be right with God to continue in this relationship. Many seek to stand in God’s presence today, but not so that they can know God. They do repent of their sins, and arrive with clean hands. Yet they want to be in God’s good graces so that they can do their own thing, and not so that they may know God. This heart is not tender towards God.
To stand in God’s presence is different than being part of a house of prayer, or worshipping God with the congregation. Many want God’s blessing on what they themselves want to do. They want new information or direction and so they return to the same meeting place, like a ritual, to find what the Lord has to say about what they want to do. These men want God to speak about those things they desire. Their relationship with God is about business, and not about the pleasure of knowing God.
Marriage is the relationship that reflects the highest attainable intimacy between people. A husband and wife come to know one another, their preferences, and their dislikes. Those who spend time getting to know one another have the same type of relationship as those who spend time getting to know God. If men do not know what pleases or displeases God, they are not yet His Bride. Yet, by standing where we can hear God, we will know His heart (Jer 23:22).
If men would realize that God wants a people to dwell amongst, they wouldn’t be so busy (Rev 21:3). He has always wanted to spend time with His people, as a husband lives with his bride. Today as you seek the Lord, let your listening be as a wife whose heart is tender, and as a wife who loves and hangs on her husband’s every word. Come to know God. Amen.
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