August 19 - A Heart to Know God

August 19 - A Heart to Know God
Jeremiah 24:7

“I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.”

This really has been all that God has ever asked of us … to know Him … to know that He is Lord.  Once that becomes completely real in our hearts, everything else falls into place.  If we know Him and acknowledge Him as Lord; how can we act with anything but love?  The amazing grace and mercy that He offers to us becomes part of our being and is then sent into the world.

God promises that with this we will be His people and He will be our God.  Though this is found several times in Jeremiah, we see it just as the New Jerusalem is coming down from heaven in Revelation 21:3.

“And I (John) heared a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God.’”

You see, when Adam and Eve sinned in Paradise, they separated themselves from God.  Soon sin was so awful that if God was in its presence, He would destroy it because of the extremity of His holiness and righteousness.  Rather than destroy His creation completely, He made ways for His chosen people to come before Him and be in relationship with Him.  When that was unproductive, He sent Jesus to act as the atoning sacrifice for all humanity, enabling us to be in God’s presence because of the covering that Jesus’ sacrifice made for us.  But, without Jesus standing between us and the Father, our sin would still be too great to stand in His presence.

At the end, though, when all is finally said and done, we will finally be able to stand in His presence as God walks among His people once again in Paradise.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away (Rev. 21:4).

He will give us a heart to know Him. We will be His people and He will be our God.