Our confessions may be a façade judging from our hearts. Galatians 6: 7 says, do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. God knows our true worship from our pretense. Jesus said in Matthew 15: 8-9; Mark 7: 6-7, “These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’” Who is God to you?
Our lip service to God
Sadly, Jeremiah 12: 2 says, you are always on their lips but far from their hearts. God said so in Isaiah 29: 13, “These people come near to me with their mouth and honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught. Consistent with divine knowledge, Ezekiel 33: 31 says, my people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to hear your words, but they do not put them into practice. Their mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. This is what Jesus said. Does God mean anything to us?
Do we know God?
Paul wrote in Ephesians 4: 18, they are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. For our hardened hearts, deceitful tongues, and warp understanding, we do not truly know God. We need the Holy Spirit to know who God is and what he means to us. John 14: 26 says, the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
David’s testimony about God
David said in Psalm 18: 1-3, I love you Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer, my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I have been saved from my enemies. David’s testimony was not mere lip service but what he lived and experienced:
God always loved his soul
David loved God unconditionally. Psalm 35: 27 says, may they always say, “The Lord be exalted, who delights in the well-being of his servants.” In good or bad times, God saw to his wellbeing with delight. Paul experienced the same, thus, wrote in Philippians 4: 4, rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! God always loves our souls. Moses also said in Exodus 15: 2-3, “The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation… The Lord is a warrior. Is Jesus the lover of your soul on the cross?
God was always his rock
David said in Psalm 91: 5, you will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day. He knew God was not only faithful but unshakable. Isaiah’s relationship with God also affirmed in Isaiah 33: 30, look on Zion, the city of our festivals; your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved; its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes broken. We must always look up to Jesus as our rock. As solid as a rock, he was David’s fortress always. Do we know God as David knew him?
God was David’s glory
David said in Psalm 3: 3, but you Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. Explaining the glory, he said in Psalm 27: 2-3, when the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall. Though an army besieges me, my heart will not fear; though war breaks out against me, even then I will be confident. God was his shield that dispersed fear. The angel told Joseph in Matthew 1: 21, she (Mary) will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. Is Jesus our glory for his salvation through his blood?
Our challenge of knowing Jesus
We often serve two masters, God and Satan. However, Jesus said in Matthew 6: 24; Luke 16: 13, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” We can’t truly know Jesus with a divided loyalty contrary to what David did. Jesus said in John 14: 1, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. What is competing with our attention for God in our lives?
Knowing who God is in our lives
Christ Jesus said in John 14: 6, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. To know Jesus, we must accept and invite him personally into our lives as such. Jesus said in John 13: 20, whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me. At Jesus’ baptism, the voice from heaven said in Matthew 17: 5; Mark 9: 7; Luke 9: 35, “This is my Son, whom I live; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him. Unless we listen to him with a pure heart, we cannot truly know he is to us.
Who is God to you personally?
Isaiah 42: 7 says, he came to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. He did this by the blood of Jesus. Paul found this as true when wrote in Acts 2: 21; Romans 10: 13, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Jesus frees and leads us by his blood as Paul affirmed in 2Corinthians 2: 14, thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. Let Jesus lead you?
Meditation
Jesus is our all in all. He said in Matthew 11: 28, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. In his name, we are safe from all storms of life. David said in Psalm 61: 3, for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. Solomon said in Proverbs 18: 10, the name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. God is our provider in every circumstance.
Prayer
Dear God, make us know you as we ought to. By your Holy Spirit, take your place in our hearts and lead us to do your will in righteousness. Let the joy of your presence be our strength. Be our salvation through Christ Jesus by whose blood we will be saved. Be our strength in stormy times in your holy name, Amen!!
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