Pressing on to know the Lord

The Old Testament is hard. It is exciting stories, spread out by chapter upon chapter or book upon book of the LORDs coming punishment, or rebuke, or rules, or how they have broken all the rules. And then the whole second half is prophet after prophet trying their darnedest  to get these people to listen, which they don’t, so then they are conquered.  Several times.

But IN THERE…and you kind of have to trudge through the miry swamps of depressing judgment on city after city to find them…are some incredible promises from the Lord and truths about who He is, and was, and will always be.

This is no news to my husband who LOVES the Minor Prophets and reads ‘em all the time. (Is it my fault that I truly prefer a good Jane Austen novel?) But I’ve had a good craving for more of God’s Word lately, and I figured I may as well stop taking Matt’s word for it, and go read it myself.

I started with Jeremiah which was a BIG mistake. That book is long. I actually looked up at Matt once and said: It HAS to get good toward the end right?

So I powered through and then jumped over to the Minor Prophets. : ) They are probably called Minor because their books are like a song in a minor key.

And I was starting to get desperate for the Lord to give me something out of it. I was coming across lots of good things, and there were certainly promises in there…but nothing was jumping out new for just me.  Then I finally found it in Hosea.

“So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD.
His going forth is as certain as the dawn;
And He will come to us like the rain,
Like the spring rain watering the earth.” Hosea 6:3

Initially I reread the verse simply because I think the first line is beautiful in its repetition and emotion. But as I read it again, things began to jump at me, and I would like to share them.

First, the Lord wants to know us, and wants us to know Him, but it requires pressing. We have to move into it. We have to consciously stand on His word (consciously, not literally) and let go of the world.

Second, pressing through THIS will bring us closer to the Lord. For Hosea, THIS was a nation whose fickle, unfaithful heart was being compared to a harlot. For us, THIS very well could be our own fickleness and wandering heart, or it could be promises of health that have yet to come…or insert your own stuff that doesn’t gel with how your spirit cries out for it to be.

Third, the Lord’s moving is certain. As certain as the sun…rising in the east…tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme….Beauty and the ---Wait a second! Walt, how did you get in here?

We don’t usually, or healthily, go to sleep at night worrying that the sun won’t rise. If anything we are hoping that the Lord extends night so we can sleep longer  ; )  We can be confident in sunrise, and confident in the Lord.

Fourth, oh lovely, lovely spring rain. Here on the good ‘ol West Coast there is no such thing as seasons. And this year we totally skipped winter. But it is not the same elsewhere. Matt and I lived in New York for 1 winter, and I’m good with that for a while. Snow is pretty, but then in melts, and gets dirty and slushy and everything looks dead. And having grown up in California, we were ready for spring in, you know, February…and it didn’t come ‘til April. But when it came, it was brilliant.

In fact, side note: Spring had not sprung on Easter Sunday when I went into labor with Rebecca…and then when we emerged from the hospital 2 days later…EVERYTHING was blooming. I think it was ‘cause of Rebecca. The earth was celebrating.

The verse suggests that THIS is a season, and as sure as spring comes – eventually – a new season with the Lord will come.

I know what you are thinking ‘cause I think it too: When?

I don’t know.

But another great promise-filled book says this:

Behold, the former things have come to pass, now I declare new things; Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you. Isaiah 42:9

His promises have come true before (see: Jesus), and He is the same yesterday, today, and forever – so we know He is a keeper of promises.

If He did not declare the things that are to come, we might not recognize that it’s HIM when they happen. And this is how we press in: We take those two verses, as well as any others that the Lord causes to pop out to you, and we hold them up a little higher than our circumstances and we declare (out loud if you want to) that THESE are truer than the THIS we are living in.

~ Ever watching, and working on being ever-willing, Corrie