Knowing God

Life has been too busy! I got into a nice little streak of blogging once a week or so and I am going to try and get back there over the next few months. I wanted to share a passage that I have been chewing on a bit from my own devotional time. Its a passage from Jeremiah 22:15-16 and Jeremiah is pronouncing judgment upon Shallum the king of Judah and in v.16 it says in reference to his father Josiah, "He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy. Then it was well. Is not that what it means to know Me?" Declares the LORD.

The OT often emphasizes the LORD's love and provision for the poor, the alien, widow or orphan (e.g. Deut. 10, book of Ruth). Often those passages implore God's people to imitate His love for the downtrodden. This passage in Jeremiah was particularly convicting to me because of the part that I bolded. Knowing the LORD in my mind is often about knowing His Word, about fleeing from sin, about being in fellowship with Him as I worship or pray. I'm ashamed to say that to me, knowing God doesn't often mean actively reaching out to the homeless, to those who are downtrodden, or poor.

That's just it, if I truly know the LORD's character, knowing He loves the unloveable, that He is a refuge for the poor (Is. 25:4), won't I do the same? Won't I go out of my way to show compassion to those that nobody else will love? Knowing God means following His example, and His example was of a Holy God leaving heaven's glories to come to earth, and die on the cross for a bunch of helpless rebels. His love was active, and was felt, and mine should be the same. Just something to think about...

To live is Christ,

J

P.S.-Check back next week for my Top 10 reasons to give thanks in 2009!