“When you yada-know the kindness of God, you can know there will be some kind of fruitfulness. Intimacy with God bears fruit for God. Intimate God-experience births God-obedience . Know the Way and you know the Way.”- Ann Voskamp
“Let us press on to [yada] acknowledge him. 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.”- Hosea 6:3 (NIV)
Ann Voskamp concludes Chapter 4 of WayMaker as she shares how Tim Keller describes the word yada. Pastor Keller defines the word as “the most deep and intimate and experiential word in the Hebrew language for knowledge.”
However, Ann counsels, to merely possess informational knowledge equates to splashing in the shadows. To only know God from page and pulpit. Yada, in contrast, represents a way to dive deep, look God in the eye, and experience relational knowledge.
As John Calvin once wrote:
“As long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from him, all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value for us. . . . All that he possesses is nothing to us until we grow into one body with him.”
Furthermore, Ann stresses, prayer only happens when we unmask and bare our souls before God. In the process, God touches and knows all parts of us. And that allows Him to wholly love all of us as we truly are. Not as we pretend to be.
In conclusion, Ann underscores, all we need is God’s love and presence. Hence, she explains:
“When you’re lost in a mess of difficulty, you find you’re found when you simply know your identity: beloved. God is Love, and love is at rock bottom, love is underneath everything, when everything falls away, and God is with us, and Love marries us.”
Today’s question: Do you experience some kind of fruitfulness as you yada-know the kindness of God? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Bypass the hard roads?”
