Let Us Pursue Knowledge of the Lord

We are already in the new year, 2011! We have all had different experiences during the past year. Some of us had a great year; some of us had a terrible time. But we thank God that he changes the times and seasons. He is in total control of our lives. Our lives are in his hands, we are his instruments. It does not matter how many rocks we hit in life, what matters the most is the strength that is holding the instrument. The God that we trust is the All-Powerful God and there is no other God besides Him.


It is not easy to put your trust in someone you do not know. In fact, I believe trust is not instant, but is built over time. It does not matter how powerful and trustworthy that person may seem to be, until you know him very well, it would be difficult to trust him with everything you have and everything you are. You may give the benefit of the doubt until you reach a certain level of knowledge about the person before you can honestly say you trust him.

As I thought about this it dawned to me that we need to build that kind of a relationship with God to faithfully put our trust in Him. The core of our discussions in past articles was trusting in the Lord at all times. As we look forward to the new year the words of the prophet Hosea strongly came to me that we should pursue the knowledge of the Lord.

The Apostle Paul says, “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like Him in His death,” (Philippians 3:10 NIV). There is nothing that surpasses the greatness of knowing our Lord Jesus Christ. You confidently put all your trust in Him when you get to understand how great He is.

Remember the story of David when he was running away from King Saul? (Read 1 Samuel 18 -24). There was a time when David was in the wilderness. He was obviously thirsty, hungry and tired. However, he knew very well who the Lord is. Instead of mourning over his situation, he rejoiced in the Lord. Instead of requesting for supply of water and food, he looked at his situation from a different perspective.

He said, “O God, You are my God. Early will I seek You. My soul thirsts for You, my flesh longs for You in a dry land where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary to see Your power and Your glory. Because of Your loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You,” (Psalm 63:1-3 NKJV).

David had deeper understanding that his life is in the hands of the Lord and whatever happens God will always be there to rescue Him. As you read the rest of the psalm you will realize that he chooses to rejoice instead of stressing over his situation. He says, “Because you have been my help, therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.”

Such confidence and trust in the Lord is a result of knowing the faithfulness of God. I often say God loves us, God cares for us and God is faithful. All it takes is to have a deeper and intimate knowledge Him.

“Let us know, let us pursue knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning. He will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth,” (Hosea 6:3 NKJV).

My dear friend, whatever you are going through, embrace it in your heart that you shall pursue the knowledge of the Lord. The New International Version says as surely as the sun rises He will appear; He will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth. If you know who this God we worship is, you will have the patience that no matter how tough the situation is, you will wait upon the Lord because surely at the right time He will come.

It is funny that we have so much faith that the morning shall come tomorrow, the sun shall rise. Even when we do not live to see that morning, we know it shall come. We had faith that 2011 shall come and 2010 would be history. However, when we get into trials and tough times we lose that faith in God, who controls the coming and going of the morning, who changes the times and seasons (Daniel 2:21). Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord, let us seek Him and surely we shall find Him.

“For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth and made it, who has established it, who did not create it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited; “I am the Lord and there is no other, I have not spoken in secret, In a dark place of the earth; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, “Seek Me in vain”; I the Lord, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right,” (Isaiah 45:18-19 NKJV).

When we seek God we shall find Him. He is ready and willing to reveal Himself to us. We shall not seek in vain. In times of trouble and in times of happiness, if we seek for his presence He will come to us like the sun rising in the morning. When there is no water He will come like the winter rains, He will come like the spring rains and surely there will be change in your situation. All in good time and His time is the good time. Let us pursue knowledge of the Lord to understand that His time is the right time!

If you can take a survey around and ask who the Lord is, I guess you can get so many varying answers. Jesus Himself asked His disciples “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? The disciples told Him that some say He was John the Baptist, some Elijah, some Jeremiah or one of the prophets. The next question that Jesus asked the disciples lingers on my mind very often.

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” (Matthew 16:15 NIV).

To me it says; put aside what people say that the Lord is, do you have a personal knowledge of the Lord? It does not matter how long you have walked with the Lord, as the disciples had been with Jesus in His mission more than the rest, but do you really know who the Lord is? You say you trust in the Lord, but do you know who He is?

When Peter answered that He is Christ, Son of the living God, Jesus replied “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by My Father in heaven.” (Matthew 16:17 NIV).

My friend, if we pursue the knowledge of the Lord, He will surely reveal Himself to us. Then we will learn to rejoice in the Lord always. We will learn to be thankful in all circumstances. We will learn to trust in His unfailing love. No man can reveal to us who the Lord is but God Himself.

I am inspired by David’s words when instructing his son Solomon to build the temple of the Lord. He said, “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will cast you forever,” (1 Chronicles 28:9 NKJV).

My dear friend, may the Almighty God bless us even more this year as we encourage each other daily. In Romans 11:36 the Word says from Him, through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.

Do Not Despair

A few weeks ago I came across something that grabbed my attention. This particular lady was desperately asking why Christians say nothing is impossible with God and I realized that so many people are in a similar state.

“What does this mean because when I look at my life, it seems impossible that I will ever be functional and free from pain and suffering? I know I’m still alive but I have tried everything that I can and my life has continued to spiral downward. All I can see is my life has been damaged beyond the possibility of hope? So why do people say nothing is impossible? Is that true? Is it possible I can have a good life even in the horrendous condition my life is in - with God’s help? If so, how do I get God to help me because I pray and try and get nothing but despair?"

We often create unnecessary and unrealistic expectations to potential children of God. We often portray the Christian walk of life as a smooth journey. Reality is that following Jesus calls for going beyond the honeymoon stage and start walking the walk of faith which has its twists and turns.

The walk of faith unfortunately (or fortunately) takes us through valleys of darkness, where you feel like God is not there. These are the times when you feel like you will never be free from the pain and suffering. However, we have to hold fast to our faith because “we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God,” (Acts 14:22 NKJV).

Like the person quoted above, there are many people who have lost hope and believe in their hearts that they will never get out of that situation. Such people are often vulnerable and my fear is that they may fall in the wrong hands and be deceived into believing that God does not care about them.

I mentioned in a previous article that the enemy delights in taking advantage of such people and plants deceptive thoughts in their minds. The first thing that the devil enjoys doing is to twist and eventually turn the truth upside down. For instance in the case above, the enemy led this person into doubting what the infallible Scripture declares, “For with God nothing will be impossible,” (Luke 1:37 NKJV).

Remember the parable of the Sower? “But he who received the seed on stony places; this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles,” (Matthew 13:20-21 NKJV).

I have come to realized that the enemy will always find a way to take away the word of God from you. I note that “tribulation or persecution arises because of the word” and I realize that the enemy is attracted by the word hence he tempts you with suffering so that you may start questioning the truth in the word. He knows that faith comes by hearing the word of God. In order for you to lose your faith in God, his strategy borders around taking away the word of God from you.

The person quoted above questions, “… how do I get God to help me because I pray and try and get nothing but despair?” She has been running a good race, looking up to God for answers. However, she is lacking the confidence and faith in God’s answering her prayers. You may be in a similar where you feel like God has abandoned you. My prayer is that you do not fall in the wrong hands.

An answer to this question (marked as the best answer!) was, “What I like about this is that they [i.e. Christians] say nothing is impossible, when you confront them with an impossible scenario, they say you are praying wrong. If anything is possible with God, why are there crippled, blind, deaf, poor, homeless, hungry and amputees in the world? Are their prayers not as important?”

Basically, the answer was suggesting that it is not true that all things are possible with God; this lady was wasting her time in trying to find solace in God! These are the kind of influences that persuade you into believing that God cannot deliver you from your troubles, especially when you are in a vulnerable state. “You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you,” (Galatians 5: 7-8 NIV).

Dear friend, if you have come to the point where you think God is not being fair to you, wait a moment, you are not alone. I know it is easier said than done – God is always there and all you need is to turn back to Him. How you react to your situation now is what matters the most.

I was reading the story of king Asa who was a righteous man and during his reign as the king of Judah there were no wars for 36 years until he decided to rely on the king of Syria instead of God to defeat the king of Israel. God sent Hanani to tell Asa that he has done a foolish thing and therefore he would start experiencing wars. Asa was angry with Hanani and put him in prison and oppressed some of the people at that time.

Asa’s story is a sad one. “And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians. So Asa rested with his fathers; he died in the forty-first year of his reign,” (2 Chronicles 16:12-13).

God just wants you to put your trust in Him. I am particularly moved by God’s response to Jeremiah’s complaint. God’s own prophet, Jeremiah came to a point where he questioned why God was allowing the pain he was suffering to go on continuously and his wounds incurable. He even questioned God’s reliability, likening Him to an unreliable stream and a spring that fails.

God, in his abundant mercy did not consider all these utterances. He simply said, “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, and not worthless, words you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them. I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to rescue and save you,” (Jeremiah 15:19-20 NIV).

My dear friend, trust in God’s unfailing love. He has not promised that you will not suffer tribulations but he has promised that the tribulations will not overcome you. God is with you in whatever situation and when you believe, nothing is impossible with Him.

The most important thing for any man coming to God is to have faith. If he does not stand firm in his faith he will not stand at all. “But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord,” (James 1:6-7 NIV).

God loves and cares for us. Nothing else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in our Lord Jesus Christ. Just because the people trying to sympathize with you lack faith in God, it does not mean that their faithlessness nullifies God’s faithfulness. Just put all your trust in Him.

“Trust in Him AT ALL TIMES, you people. Pour out your heart before Him, God is a refuge for us,” (Psalm 62:8 NKJV).