I have a pet parrot named Sam. Every morning as each person in our family gets up and Sam hears our footsteps coming down the hall, he starts calling to us until we come out to see him. Some days he is quite persistent! And when the phone rings, or the door opens, he starts calling out “Hello!” until he is satisfied with the response he’s looking for. He recognizes us, the sound of our footsteps, our voices, our faces. He wants to be near us, to know that we’re there, to be in our presence.
I want to Yada you!
One of my favorite Hebrew words is the word “Yada”. Yada means to know or understand. More specifically it means to know and understand by experience. The original Hebrew, based on hieroglyphic-type symbols means to be led through a doorway into an experience. He wants us by experience to come to know who He is, as He by experience knows who we are. This is not our Western concept of logically knowing factual data about someone, like what they do or look like, but a dynamic, relational interaction by which you come to know that other person intimately.
God describes Himself throughout the scriptures using a variety of different names that illustrate who He is, and what He is like. And He gladly invites us to encounter each of these aspects of Who He is. In a fascinating scripture in Exodus 6:3, God says to Moses, “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty (El-Shaddai), but by My name the Lord (YWHW or Yahweh) I did not make Myself known (yada) to them.” Now Yahweh is a word so holy that the ancient Hebrews would neither say it or write it down. Moses is being told that there was an experience available in God far more profound than what the former Patriarchs had experienced. I think this planted a seed of desire in Moses‘ heart to seek out more. Later on in Exodus we read that Moses had the audacity to ask God to reveal Himself in the fullness of His glory, and communicate the meaning of this unspeakable name, YHWH.
Recognizing Heart Need
One of the aspects of God’s heart that I have been seeking an encounter with recently has been His tenderness. That is fairly new and unfamiliar territory to me, as it was not part of my “normal” growing up. At some point in my early life I stopped expecting to receive nurture and compassion so I learned to live without it. It has been a process learning to open up my heart in this area, and it’s not always comfortable, but I know this is what my heart is yearning for from Him at this season in my life.
In Psalm 139:23,4 we read Davids heart cry to God: “Search me, O God, and yada my heart! Try me and yada my thoughts! And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” The word for wicked is actually better translated hurting or grieving. David is asking God to enter into the very core of his being and reveal any place within that is hurting or stuck in grief...”Come on in God, I want to encounter You in a new way, in deeper places than I’ve every know You before! Help me give You access into areas of my heart I’ve kept walled off from You! I know You have plans for me to enter into that are beyond my wildest dreams, and this part of my heart is needed in order to get there!”
How does your Heart need to Yada Him?
We will never exhaust the fullness of experiencing all that He is...there will always be more. Part of our challenge, I think, is to learn to tune into our own heart and allow a voice of yearning to rise up from within. What is your heart in need of experiencing from God? He wants to experientially know you, and in so doing, you will come to experientially know Him in ways you’ve never known before. As our little Sammy so unabashedly, so tirelessly cries out to us, “I want to know you!” cry out to the One whose heart is already yours. He will answer you!
I want to Yada you!
One of my favorite Hebrew words is the word “Yada”. Yada means to know or understand. More specifically it means to know and understand by experience. The original Hebrew, based on hieroglyphic-type symbols means to be led through a doorway into an experience. He wants us by experience to come to know who He is, as He by experience knows who we are. This is not our Western concept of logically knowing factual data about someone, like what they do or look like, but a dynamic, relational interaction by which you come to know that other person intimately.
God describes Himself throughout the scriptures using a variety of different names that illustrate who He is, and what He is like. And He gladly invites us to encounter each of these aspects of Who He is. In a fascinating scripture in Exodus 6:3, God says to Moses, “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty (El-Shaddai), but by My name the Lord (YWHW or Yahweh) I did not make Myself known (yada) to them.” Now Yahweh is a word so holy that the ancient Hebrews would neither say it or write it down. Moses is being told that there was an experience available in God far more profound than what the former Patriarchs had experienced. I think this planted a seed of desire in Moses‘ heart to seek out more. Later on in Exodus we read that Moses had the audacity to ask God to reveal Himself in the fullness of His glory, and communicate the meaning of this unspeakable name, YHWH.
Recognizing Heart Need
One of the aspects of God’s heart that I have been seeking an encounter with recently has been His tenderness. That is fairly new and unfamiliar territory to me, as it was not part of my “normal” growing up. At some point in my early life I stopped expecting to receive nurture and compassion so I learned to live without it. It has been a process learning to open up my heart in this area, and it’s not always comfortable, but I know this is what my heart is yearning for from Him at this season in my life.
In Psalm 139:23,4 we read Davids heart cry to God: “Search me, O God, and yada my heart! Try me and yada my thoughts! And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” The word for wicked is actually better translated hurting or grieving. David is asking God to enter into the very core of his being and reveal any place within that is hurting or stuck in grief...”Come on in God, I want to encounter You in a new way, in deeper places than I’ve every know You before! Help me give You access into areas of my heart I’ve kept walled off from You! I know You have plans for me to enter into that are beyond my wildest dreams, and this part of my heart is needed in order to get there!”
How does your Heart need to Yada Him?
We will never exhaust the fullness of experiencing all that He is...there will always be more. Part of our challenge, I think, is to learn to tune into our own heart and allow a voice of yearning to rise up from within. What is your heart in need of experiencing from God? He wants to experientially know you, and in so doing, you will come to experientially know Him in ways you’ve never known before. As our little Sammy so unabashedly, so tirelessly cries out to us, “I want to know you!” cry out to the One whose heart is already yours. He will answer you!
With love,
Susan
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