DAILY WORD

I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord; and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart. – Jeremiah 24:7

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One of the greatest joys of being human is the privilege of knowing another person. It is a profound tragedy when a life is lived without having truly known another. Sadly, many people today live with a pervasive sense of isolation and loneliness. But when we come to truly know someone, perhaps a spouse or trusted friend, our lives are enriched and often transformed. To truly know another requires risk; it requires vulnerability and honesty. Yet as we allow ourselves to be vulnerable and transparent, our knowledge progresses from the initial superficiality to a deep and abiding sense of love, trust, and stability.

We grow in our relationship with God in much the same way that we grow in our relationship with another human being – through risk, vulnerability, and honesty. We cannot trust God until we know him. Why would we trust someone we do not know? And why would give our lives as a living sacrifice to someone we do not trust? Knowing God leads us to trust him and trusting God leads us to offer our lives to him.

The ability to know God is not something we possess in ourselves, but it is a gift from God. As the Lord spoke through the prophet Jeremiah, “I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord.” God takes our hardened heart and gives us a heart of flesh. God tears down the dividing wall of pride and insecurity in order that we may know him intimately.

And as we grow in our relationship with God, we are given the promise that we will one day stand in God’s presence and we shall be like him. As the apostle Paul reminds us, “Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (I Corinthians 13:12).

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