Hosea 4:6 - Destroyed For Lack Of Knowledge.
Hosea 4:6 - Destroyed For Lack Of Knowledge.
Hosea 4:6 (KJV) My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge:
because thou hast rejected knowledge,
Hosea 4:6 (NLT) My people are being destroyed because they don't
know me.
This is one of the best known and most frequently quoted
passages in Hosea. [Scofield SB]
What you don't know can hurt you! [Warren Wiersbe]
The particular knowledge that is missing is the knowledge of
God, the most essential of all knowledge... Men are held responsible
not only for what they know (John 9:41; 15:22, 24; James 4:17), but
also for what they might have known had they put forth the effort to
obtain essential knowledge (cf. 2 Peter 3:5). There are many who fear
that a further investigation of truth will reveal that a change in
conduct may be required of them, a change that their sin-loving hearts
are unwilling to undertake, and so they deliberately desist from
further inquiry. Such willful ignorance God cannot excuse. [SDA Bible
Commentary]
"Knowledge" is not just a bookish collection of information. It
is experiential knowledge of the living God. [Disciple SB]
The Old Testament regularly uses know for sexual knowledge.
"Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived, and bore Cain" (Gen 4:1).
Now the knowledge of husband and wife is the most intimate there can
be. Husband and wife are no longer two; they are one flesh. The
sexual act itself is not the important thing; the important thing is
the intimacy of heart and mind and soul which in true love precede
that act. To know God is therefore not merely to have intellectual
knowledge of him; it is to have an intimate personal relationship with
him, which is like the nearest and dearest relationship in life.
[Barclay Commentary]
Knowing God through experience is radically different than
knowing about God from a theology textbook. According to the Bible, you
cannot say you know God unless you have experienced Him (Php 3:8, 10).
Biblical knowledge always involves experience. You may become discouraged
because the truths you read about in the Bible are much richer than the
reality of your own experience.
If you have not experienced God's power at work in and
through your life, do not settle for a secondhand knowledge of God's
power, rejoicing in what He has done in others. Jesus' prayer was that
you would come to know God and His presence in your life and
experience. Don't discount the power of God as described in Scripture simply
because you have not experienced it. Bring your experience up to the
standard of Scripture, never reduce Scripture to the level of your
experience. Don't settle for a head knowledge of God's love. Jesus prayed
that you would experience the depth and width and height of His love
and that you would enjoy God's full and unending love in the
day-to-day experiences of your life.
If you sense there are biblical truths that you are not
experiencing, keep that truth before you and ask God to bring it into your
everyday experience. Ask God if there are any adjustments you need to
make in order to receive His promise. Don't give up on the promises
of God, stay with them until you are fully experiencing them.
[Experiencing God Day by Day by Henry and Richard Blackaby re John 17:3]
Success in the world means power, influence, money, prestige.
But in the Christian world, it means pleasing God. This quest for
obedience may lead you to do things that are wholly contrary to what the
world wants and rewards....
Obeying his commandments means reading and understanding
Scripture, then determining that you are going to live exactly as Scripture
teaches. I don't believe anybody can do that, because it is almost
impossible not to be caught up every day in the ways of the world. But you
can make an effort to live biblically. That is how the process of
sanctification works - learning how to obey God, how to listen for his commands
in your life. It is reading the Scripture and allowing it to soak
into you. It is understanding the requirements of God's commandments
and then gradually, day by day, in large ways and small, allowing
that understanding to control the actions of your life....
If I had to pick the one thing ... that has caused the most
failure in obeying God, it would be that we figure God's time is our
Bible study, our prayer time, the meeting with our prayer group, and
Sunday morning church service. That's just not true. God's time is
every moment of our lives. Bible study and church simply prepare us
for the rest of the moments of our lives.... We don't put him on and
take him off like a suit of clothes.... If we would "wear" him all
day long, we would discover obedience becoming a reflex reaction.
(From "The Quest for Obedience" by Charles Colson in Practical
Christianity) [Inspirational SB]
The experimental knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ whom He
has sent, transforms man into the image of God. It gives to man the
mastery of himself, bringing every impulse and passion of the lower
nature under the control of the higher powers of the mind. It makes its
possessor a son of God and an heir of heaven. It brings him into communion
with the mind of the Infinite, and opens to him the rich treasures of
the universe. COL114
EXAMPLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS
All the kids called him "Grandpa." He was a plumber with an
eighth-grade education. But no one was more articulate about Jesus Christ
than Grandpa Craig.
Kids from all over spent a lot of time with Grandpa--eating
popcorn in his living room, having Bible studies, praying, just
"shooting the breeze." No matter where the conversation wandered, though,
Grandpa would always bring it around to Jesus.
Whenever we were talking about school or dating or the
future, Grandpa would say, "That reminds me of something Jesus said....."
or, "That's just like when Jesus......" and he would reveal new
insights to us about Jesus.
Grandpa's life was filled with the reality of Jesus'
presence. On Saturday afternoons, we would sometimes take long walks with
Grandpa. He would point to the countryside and say, "Now, that's Jesus'
way of showing us how much he loves us. He made all these things for
us to enjoy."
Grandpa saw Jesus in everything around him. "See how the sun
goes down so faithfully every evening?" he would ask. "That shows how
faithful Jesus is to us. Just like the sun, he never lets us down."
When anyone wondered how to act toward a new kid in school,
Grandpa would ask, "How would Jesus act if he were in school?" Problems
with parents? "What would Jesus do in your shoes?" His advice was
always simple: "Focus on Jesus. Figure it out from there."
In the same way that Grandpa experienced Jesus in everything,
John 1:1-18 reminds us that Jesus is central to everything. [Youth SB
re John 1:1-18]
I recall reading some years ago in a newspaper article about
an old man who carried a small can of "3-In-One Oil" with him
wherever he went. When he passed through a door that squeaked he
squirted a little oil on the hinges. If a gate was hard to open, he
oiled the latch ... and thus he passed through life lubricating all
the squeaking places, making life more pleasant for those who came
after him ... an unusual procedure, yet he derived a great deal of
pleasure in doing it.
We see others doing similar deeds like this by planting
flowers/shrubs along the roadway or picking up litter, planting trees in
unsightly places or like the good neighbor this Christmas who decorated a
tree along the railroad to enhance the area with a little beauty.
In our lives, there are many opportunities for us to perhaps
spread a little oil of kindness where it will make a big difference in
a small way. There's no telling how many lives we may keep from
rusting and squeaking, how many gates to happiness we may oil that will
make a life a little easier. Pastor Fate Thomas
His name is Bill. He has wild hair, wears a T-shirt with
holes in it, jeans and no shoes. This was literally his wardrobe for
his entire four years of college. He is brilliant. Kinda esoteric
and very bright. He became a Christian while attending college.
Across the street from the campus is a well-dressed, very
conservative church. They want to develop a ministry to the students, but
are not sure how to go about it. One day Bill decides to go there.
He walks in with no shoes, jeans, his T-shirt, and wild hair. The
service has already started and so Bill starts down the aisle looking
for a seat.
The church is completely packed and he can't find a seat. By
now people are looking a bit uncomfortable, but no one says
anything. Bill gets closer and closer and closer to the pulpit and when
he realizes there are no seats, he just squats down right on the
carpet. (Although perfectly acceptable behavior at a college
fellowship, trust me, this had never happened in this church before!)
By now the people are really uptight, and the tension in the
air is thick.
About this time, the minister realizes that from way at the
back of the church, a deacon is slowly making his way toward Bill.
Now the deacon is in his eighties, has silver-gray hair, a
three-piece suit, and a pocket watch. A godly man, very elegant, very
dignified, very courtly. He walks with a cane and as he starts walking
toward this boy, everyone is saying to themselves, you can't blame him
for what he's going to do. How can you expect a man of his age and
of his background to understand some college kid on the floor?
It takes a long time for the man to reach the boy. The
church is utterly silent except for the clicking of the man's cane.
All eyes are focused on him. You can't even hear anyone breathing.
The people are thinking, the minister can't even preach the sermon
until the deacon does what he has to do. And now they see this
elderly man drop his cane on the floor. With great difficulty he lowers
himself and sits down next to Bill and worships with him so he won't be
alone. Everyone chokes up with emotion.
When the minister gains control he says, "What I'm about to
preach, you will never remember. What you have just seen, you will
never forget." Author unknown
MINI-VIDEO CLIP: Getting To Know God By Pastor Shawn Boonstra:
http://www.itiswritten.com/television#episodes/2493
