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Let Us Press On to Know the Lord
Recently on a trip to the southwest United States, I visited national parks like the Grand Canyon and Arches and saw landscapes unlike anything I had ever seen. Some of the parks I was only able to see from a viewpoint, which provided breathtaking views of mountains and canyons. In other parks, I was able to spend the day hiking and really experiencing the terrain.
On one of these hikes a line from a hymn kept playing in my mind:
“But we never can prove the delights of His love, until all on the altar we lay. For the favor He shows and the joy He bestows are for those who will trust and obey”.
It was amazing to be able to see these places from a viewpoint that I drove up to in my car. Those scenes were awe-inspiring and photo-worthy enough to impress me. But it was nothing like the experience of actually expending myself to travel deeper into the canyons and higher onto the mountains. There was beauty to be discovered around every turn. That experience was more physically exhausting and sometimes painful, but the reward was exponentially greater than the superficial view could provide.
Our relationship with God is like that. Anyone who acknowledges God can see some of the amazing things He’s done, like creation and even salvation in Jesus. But that surface knowledge of Him cannot compare to the knowledge that comes from truly experiencing the “delights of His love” through obedience.
In John 15, right before Jesus is about to die, He talks to His disciples about what a real relationship with the Father is like:
“By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
How will I ever really know the joy that comes from obedience if I never do anything God commands that’s difficult for me? How can I ever experience the power of God through the gospel if I never trust Him by getting outside my comfort zone and talking to someone about Jesus? How can I experience the mercy and grace God promises in times of need if I never fight temptation?
We get this in human relationships. I don’t expect to have the same relationship with the grocery store cashier that I have with my spouse or best friend. Why is that? Because I haven’t made the same investment of time, energy, and emotion into the person I see once a week as I have with my friend or spouse. We understand that the blessings that come with a close relationship result from mutual effort.
Are you content with just a superficial relationship with God, just with knowing some things about Him and seeing a glimpse of Him from far away? Or are you investing time and energy and emotion into really knowing Him by loving, trusting, and obeying Him? The joy He promises from such an effort is more than worth the sacrifice.
"Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord!” (Hosea 6:3)
