Hosea 6:3
3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
‘FOLLOWING ON’
‘Then shall we know, if we follow on to Know the Lord.’
What is the great aim and destiny of my being? Why was I ever born? Why am I preserved to this day? Why am I redeemed? Why am I furnished with all my powers and capabilities? Is it for time, or for eternity? Whether it be for time or for eternity, what is the focus of my being?—its sources, its essence, its design, its resting-place! My Creator, my God. To know Him as my Beloved; to love Him, that I may be like Him; to be like Him that I may enjoy Him; to enjoy Him that I may serve Him; to serve Him that I may glorify Him for ever and ever—that is man’s destiny.
Can a man know God? Can the clay ‘know’ the hand which moulded it? A creature, its Creator? Hasn’t God Himself answered that question in the negative? ‘Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? Deeper than hell; what canst thou know?’ Can we do more than catch His shadow in passing? May God not say, ‘Acquaint now thyself with Me and be at peace’? ‘Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.’ ‘Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord.’
I. There are two conditions in knowing God.—
(1) One is purity of heart. ‘Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.’ See Him and know Him now by faith spiritually, and see Him and know Him personally and visibly soon. For the knowledge of God is more in the heart than in the head; and if the heart is not pure, there is a mist and a thickness which veils Him from view. The atmosphere of the life is not congenial, and, therefore, both by natural cause and effect and also judicially, God cannot and will not show Himself where there is any indulged impurity of life or heart. Know thou that God cannot dwell with anything unclean!
(2) The other condition is perseverance. It is not a knowledge by intuition; it is not a sudden thing done by one great miracle; it is not even a very rapid process; it is not thus exceptional to other kinds of knowledge; it is given to effort and to continuance. The date is fixed, but it is a date going forth, on, and on, and on, for ever and for ever. ‘Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord.’
But it is of that perseverance which is requisite for the knowledge of God that I wish to speak. Why have we not got on better ahead in this pursuit of the highest knowledge which it is given to a man to attain? Why has the education of our souls been so very slow, so small, even if it has not altogether failed?
Because we have not ‘followed on.’ Nothing has been wanting on God’s part. If we had ‘followed on’ with God’s work, we couldn’t have not known, because the promise is absolute and cannot be broken—‘Then shall we know, if we follow on.’
The fact is that the religion of most of us is a thing of fits and starts. We begin and we rush, and then we run, and then we walk, and then we creep, and then we stop, and then we lie down, and then we go to sleep, and then we die. This is the way we have gone on again and again, almost all our lives. Fits and starts! But what knowledge worth the having was ever attained in this way? And shall the highest of all knowledge be an exception to that rule? Must it not have, does it not deserve, the greatest exercise of our powers; the longest, closest, most resolute, most diligent, most patient following? If only ‘in the sweat of the brow’ we can find and eat the natural bread, can we expect, without ‘the sweat of the brow,’ to eat the bread of life—the spiritual bread?
II. Let me consider one or two of the ways by which the ‘following on’ is to be effected.—Recognising the Living Presence which combines to draw and move and animate the ‘following.’ Now let us look at it more closely.
(1) The Bible naturally stands first in the pursuit of all Divine things. Now in reading your Bible, let me advise you to be very regular, and to take your Bible consecutively, as God is pleased to give it to us, not skippingly, here or there, as choice or fancy may lead you, but in some stated, precise order.
(2) Do not come with prejudiced or preconceived ideas, but with a perfectly open mind. Every time you come to your Bible, accept whatever you find there; your mind a blank sheet upon which God shall write whatever He pleases.
(3) And take care that you do not hold one doctrine to the injury or disparagement of another doctrine. You must have an equal hold of God’s justice and God’s love. Free will must not interfere with election, nor must election interfere with free will.
(4) Then in your prayers, if you are asking a promised thing, don’t be tempted to cease to pray for it because the answer does not come as soon as you think that you had reason to expect it to come. God promises, and He never promises without performing. ‘Follow on!’ ‘follow on,’ in your prayers again and again.
(5) Don’t take hasty views of God’s character. One attribute of God develops itself at one time, and another at another time; each in season as God sees best, and if you would know God you must ‘follow on’ a long time to study God, observe God. Indeed, it is a life-work, it is a work of eternity.
(6) Accustom yourself to watch Providence. ‘He who watches Providence will never want a Providence to watch.’ When you are reading past history, read God in the history, and when you are engaged in a little study of your own daily life, be always tracing the hand of love—a purpose, a wise adjustment, a marvellous balancing. Oh, look at the balancings of your life! How strangely the outer fits into the inner life!
(7) When you go out to enjoy the works of nature, always recognise the Hand, and search out the magnificent comprehensiveness with the microscopic tenderness of the mind of God in nature. And often sit very still and contemplate and admire the wonderful plan of man’s redemption. Read in your heart the story of the Cross; how a poor miserable sinner like you could ever be saved; how ‘mercy and truth could meet together,’ could combine to do this work. Oh! there are depths within depths of that subject; ‘follow on!’ ‘follow on!’
(8) And still more. Place yourself in real inward communion with God. You will hear still small voices echo; you will hear them speak. Think on and on of what God has been to you, and all He has undertaken for you. ‘Follow on!’ ‘follow on!’ We are to know God as a man knows his truest and most intimate friend. That cannot be by books, or sermons, or education; it must be by a contact of heart with heart; it must be individual experience. It is given by prayer, and thought, and earnestness, and faith, and holy walk. And if— if you ‘follow on,’ if you ‘follow on.’ Oh! never forget that if; if you ‘follow on’ and on, that little if—the grandest thing in the universe—you shall know God. But how is it given? Not like other knowledge—cause and effect. It is not so, but God, when you follow on, being pleased with you, marks His pleasure by revealing Himself to your soul by direct communication through the Holy Ghost. And so ‘following’ and receiving more of this mystical communication, you ‘ know the Lord’—know, as I cannot attempt to teach you; nobody can teach you. Know it by actually being one with God, one with God. Yes, identity. You in Him, and He in you. Too great for the poor sinner to believe! And what shall you know? Sovereignty, Omnipotence, pardon, covenant, grace, love, all in one word—‘the Lord!’ ‘the Lord!’ You poor worm, poor worm, ‘shall know the Lord.’
Rev. Jas. Vaughan.