Pressing to Know

Hosea 6:3 “Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; His going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
as the spring rains that water the earth.”

The book of Hosea has always captivated my heart. It conveys the nature of God's unrelenting love for His people, His bride, His heartbeat with incredible poignancy. Even in the 21st century, it remains just as relevant as it was thousands of years ago (human nature never changes). Israel has played the whore, pursuing superficial lovers and trading the safety of God's arms for the beds of idolatry. To illustrate the heartbreak of God, He commands the prophet Hosea to marry Gomer, a prostitute entangled in sin. Paralleling God's love for Israel with Hosea's love for Gomer, a repeating struggle begins to emerge. Gomer, delivered from her life of bondage continues to go back to her whoredom and forsakes the liberty of marriage for the enslavement of sin. But Hosea continues to pursue, as does our Savior Jesus Christ. After God has stripped away her blessings, her goods, her land, her clothing and lovers, and “punishes” her for her “feast days to Baal”, He provides a door of hope.
Hosea 2:14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. 15 And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.”

The history of Achor is one marked with suffering. It is the location where Achan and his entire family was stoned for disobeying the Word of God from Joshua His servant. But God is providing a striking new alternative for Gomer's sin: a door of hope where her sin should have lead to death. He leads her into the wilderness to intimately speak with her and woo her. Let's all just to take a moment here to fall back in love with God...
(I would just put all of Hosea chapter 2 here, but that would take up a significant amount of space, so I encourage you to go read it yourself.)
Perhaps we could sympathize with Gomer slightly here. It is, in all reality, the only life she knows. Liberty and freedom can be just as terrifying as the shackles of sin because freedom requires substantial faith to step into the unknown. But the standard for God's people has always been high. And I'm glad. We are not the “servants of sin” as Paul discusses in Romans 6.
22 “But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God's love does not smother, God's love protects, liberates and takes our mortal bodies higher into the realms of His holy presence.
Which now leads me to the highlighted verse.

Hosea 6:3 “Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; His going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
as the spring rains that water the earth.”

We press on to know the Lord not because we feel the cold press of obligation but because we feel the press of an all consuming love in our hearts. Because we are enraptured with Him, who He is as the Lord of all Creation, as the Prince of Peace, as the King of Kings, the Master of the Universe. I want to know Him, to understand His thoughts, to anticipate His movements, to recognize His voice like I recognize the voice of a lover, or a familiar friend. I desire to feel His grace like the “spring rain”, to be washed clean by the “showers” of His presence.
Hosea pleads in Hosea 6:6,
"For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."
God does not desire your religion, He wants your heart. He wants you, all of you. This love presses me to study His character, to discover His infinite nature. It is the heartbeat of this generation to trust in His swift and soon coming return. Because He will come. His going out is sure, and we the people of God, the children of the King will press on, running to Him with open arms, and open hearts, pursuing the object of our love and the One of our obsession.

Pressing Toward the Mark

I remember a few years ago sitting in a home bible study with my family and a few other family friends on a Wednesday night. I'll admit, I was slightly checked out thinking about all the trivial things that grab our attention in church but present enough to catch bits and pieces of the discussion that was taking place. My Dad was facilitating the edification out of Philippians 3, a passage that has been repeatedly quoted, discussed and dissected for its captivating message but tonight, unbeknownst to myself, I would let it change my life forever. We reached Phillipians 3:14 and my dad read: "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." He paused here.
"The press. That's interesting. What do you think about that, Lauren?"

The gears began to spin, the wheels creaked under the slow turn.
"Paul is reaching for something. Christ. His Kingdom. Just Him. Who He is. He's the prize, the main goal. The call. That's what we aim towards. Press. That means you have opposition; something's pressing back." And then it clicked and this one word revolutionized my world, my walk with God, my outlook on ministry. Everything. I've always been ambitious. I've always enjoyed the push, the press. For good grades, broadening my intellectual horizons, learning new things, and in a roundabout way, tenaciously pursuing passion. But had God been the goal, the prize, the main event in my life. Was He truly the finish line at the end of the race? And of course, I had faced opposition, but was I letting it propel me or hinder me? What was my life reaching for?

I walked away that night feeling something different. Not exponentially changed- no- but different. Something very subtle had been carved in my heart. I would read and re-read that passage, letting it sink into my soul. I would constantly mull, chew and digest Paul's words as they imprinted themselves on my heart- before I went to bed, when I woke up. And that one word "press" ignited a passion in me bred from sincere conviction. That was my Junior year of high school. Now, going into my Sophomore year at Indiana Bible College, I can say this word has pushed me farther than I ever could've imagined. It's a concept rooted in tenacity. It means putting on blinders, and letting the tunnel vision secured on Christ guide you in the journey. Pressing toward the mark. Stripping away the weights of sin, letting go of past mistakes and running to obtain. There is a mark we are striving to meet. There is a destination that our course is destined for. I am pressing, you are pressing, we- the collective body of Christ- are pressing foward. It requires energy, it requres sacrifice. Yes we encounter resistance, yes fleshly doubts cloud our vision, but we must press on. The world is making us a seemingly incredible offer, but it's one that we have to refuse. Pursuing, pushing, pressing to expand God's kingdom, to become the vessel and the runner He desires us to be.

Cheerio, folks. That's all for now.

Piece of Mind

It's one in the morning and though I'm slightly wary, I always told myself I would do this. Blog that is. I thought I had a lot to say. (Thought being the key word here). At least enough to invest the time and effort in creating a blog on the internet for hundreds of people to read and digest, which I feel is slightly narcissistic. Then my second thought: will this impact any one at all? Who am I writing for anyways? Surely not for myself, or would that be enough?

Ok, the latter is easy: God. I'll share my thoughts about God. The pursuit for Him and His kingdom. His intricate threading and weaving of our existence, the smallest details of His hand, and the biggest sweeps of His breath over our lives. Since this is the main mark my life is pressing towards why not document it?

I pulled up the first white blank page on Blogger and rested my fingers on the keyboard. I shrinked under its cold stare. I felt very intimidated and very small. But I thought I had so much to say? All of sudden I couldn't discern my thoughts or my emotions. Nostalgia, fiery dissertation, fragmented musings of love? This is the scariest thing about writing, ladies and gentleman: writing is painfully reflective. It is the surest and fasted way to learn everything you don't like about yourself. Especially those who dedicate themselves to talking about the Word of God. It is very "quick, very sharp, and very powerful..." It truly "pierces, and divides asunder our soul and spirit" and cuts to ribbons our carnal intentions. (Hebrews 4:12)


I vaguely remember the droning voice of my English Composition professor mumbling something about Aristotle's canons of rhetoric. Of which one was the canon of invention. Meaning "having something to say." Meaning understanding the world around you. Meaning educating yourself on current events and culture and formulating ideas and opinions about it. Like if you think steamed almond milk is better in a cambric than 2% or if you believe without of a shadow of a doubt that Karen Carpenter was the greatest alto of all time, or if you firmly stand by the notion that Nutella was the greatest man-made invention since the wheel.

After I reached this point in my thinking I was disappointed. I can't write what I know from the world's standards. But I can talk about what I know from the Word of God. I can't discuss my pursuit for the Kingdom of God from humanistic philosophy because this is absolute Truth. The World will always contradict the Word. So I have said all of this to say this: In this blog I intend to share my world from the lens of the Word of God. I hope to use the Bible as a foundation for every thought, musing, and idea found in this blog. Because the wisdom of the world is foolishness to God. And because "All scripture is give by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness"2 Tim 3:16.
So is this my introductory post. By no means will they all be like this. This is by far the most obnoxious exposition you'll see, but I thought it was necessary to lay a foundation before I jump. Though I don't know what I'm jumping to, I know what I'm jumping from. This blog is somewhat experimental, but more than that, a fulfillment of a goal for myself. And there's my piece of mind.

Cheers.