From Distance to Intimacy: Acknowledging God Daily

The mission of Orchard Hill is to help people find and follow Jesus Christ. This means that we want to help people not just know good information about Jesus, but help them learn to relate to him and know him at an intimate level. Now, to be fair, this is often not the easiest thing to do for two reasons:

1. We’re sinners. And all we’ve known about relating to others comes from dealing with other sinners. Sin impacts all our relationships, especially our relationship with God.

2. We can’t see God. Part of growing in a relationship with someone is spending quality time with them. To learn their mannerisms and habits. A lot of communication is nonverbal. We know how to respond to someone better when we can read their body language. With God, that’s not really possible. We’re often left to our imagination.

How then can we grow in our relationship with Christ? One of the repeated ideas expressed in Scripture is the act of acknowledging God in our daily lives. The book of Proverbs, part of the wisdom literature of the Bible, serves as a guidebook on how to live a fruitful life. At the heart of wisdom is the recognition that God exists and is sovereign over all of creation. One of my favorite proverbs is found in chapter 3.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” - Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)

While the NIV uses the word “submit” here, a lot of other translations say to “acknowledge him.” Both words are helpful to get the full idea. Simply submitting to someone can, potentially, feel a little cold. Many people have submitted to someone else while harboring resentment toward them. Yet, on the other hand, it’s possible to acknowledge someone without the willingness to submit to them. In relating with God, he desires us to acknowledge him with the intention of obeying him. Dr. Thomas Constable says it this way, “Acknowledge means to be aware of and have fellowship with God, not just to ‘tip one’s hat’ to Him.”

Here, we go back to one of our problems mentioned earlier. How do we practice acknowledging someone we can’t see? For many, this can feel a little awkward. Like we’re talking to an imaginary friend. And while it might feel this way at first, it doesn’t have to stay that way. I’d like to offer three ways we can go about acknowledging God in our daily lives. 

Faith

If you were to ask most people in our culture today to define the word “faith,” I would expect many to define faith as some sort of positive attitude. It can also be a code word for self-confidence. And while faith certainly involves attitude, it’s not limited to attitude. The apostle Paul says that “we live by faith, not by sight.” This informs us that faith is about how we see, interpret, and respond to the world we live in.

In their book “In Search of Confident Faith,” J.P. Moreland and Klaus Issler say that biblical faith involves three components. Knowledge, mental agreement, and commitment to follow through. This shows us that faith is more than just information. It’s about what that information does to you. In Hosea 11:3, God rebukes the nation of Israel, saying: “Yet it was I who led Ephraim, I took them by the arm; but they did not acknowledge that I had healed them.” (NET)

He’s not saying that the Israelites didn’t know God. Or that they didn’t have a record of God’s work in their midst. Instead, he’s saying that the Israelites failed to credit and respond to God appropriately based on what they knew about him. One of the ways we can practice acknowledging God is by exercising our faith to see God and take note of the work he’s done in our lives.

Practically, this might look like taking some time to reflect on the work of Christ in our redemption. Remembering how he has forgiven us of our sins and has delivered us into his Kingdom. This might also include writing down a list of all the blessings in your life. Taking time to thank God for the good things we experience throughout the day.

In Romans 1, the apostle Paul says that God’s wrath is being stored up against unrighteousness. He goes on to say in verse 21 that “although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him.”

Too often, we credit good things in our lives as chance or luck. The first way we can go about acknowledging God is by having faith that he exists, that he cares, and that He is at work in our lives on a daily basis.

Scripture

Going back to Hosea, in chapter 8:2-3, it says: “Israel cries out to me, ‘My God, we acknowledge you!’ But Israel has rejected what is morally good; so an enemy will pursue him.” (NET)

Here we see that to acknowledge God goes beyond recognizing and thanking him, it also means to gladly receive his instruction and to walk in truth. It’s one thing to appreciate a good gift when it’s given. It’s another thing to receive a hard truth and conform your life to another standard of living.

Jesus informed his followers in John 8:31-32, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” This statement offended those who heard it, as they considered themselves free and not in need of deliverance. They didn’t understand how strongly sin had a hold on them. The reality is that none of us do.

We tend to deceive ourselves into thinking that we’re better and more righteous than we really are. We do a good deed, exhibit some level of self-control, hold back our anger, overlook an offense, and then think to ourselves, “yeah, I’m a pretty good person.” All the while, we minimize the times we neglected kindness, overindulged, and retaliated out of hurt feelings.

Sin is often only thought of in terms of an immoral act. Which is certainly true. But it’s also much more than that.  The Apostle Paul personifies sin as a world ruler that has enslaved all of humanity. We then see that all people possess what the New Testament calls “the flesh.” The flesh exists as the seat of selfish desires in all of us.  Its only concern is self-preservation and self-exaltation.

Once we realize that we can’t morally live right on our own, we can then look to the scriptures for what it looks like to have righteousness in Christ and live with integrity. Even though the nation of Israel said they acknowledged God, they failed to actually acknowledge him as they refused to submit to his word and pursue obedience. Acknowledgement in our lives involves submitting to God’s word, internalizing it, and applying it to our character.

Prayer

Going back to the definition of “acknowledge,” we read from Dr. Constable, we see that to acknowledge God is to have fellowship with him. While fellowship can be hard to define, we can see that it involves spending time with people, having meaningful conversations, and the willingness to open your life to them. With this in mind, we can see that acknowledging God involves an ongoing prayer life.

I don’t know about you, but I can often relegate my prayer time to something that resembles reciting a grocery list. While it’s not bad to have a list of things to bring to God, prayer shouldn’t end there. He doesn’t just want to take your order and move on to the next person. He wants you. He wants to live life with you. 

King David is regarded as the greatest king of the Kingdom of Israel. One reason for that is his constant consideration of the Lord and his ways. Before every battle, we see that David consulted with the Lord on whether and how he should approach the conflict. Even after winning multiple wars, he remained intent on relying on the Lord and not himself.

In 1 Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul encourages the believers to “pray continually.” Acknowledging God looks like inviting him into every moment and area of your life. While having a scheduled time and place to pray is essential, that doesn’t reflect the kind of comprehensive intimacy we were made for.

Practically, we know this to be true. If you’ve ever had a great experience and then tried to share that with someone after the fact, you eventually had to give up and say something like “you just had to be there.” With God, he is there. And he wants to be involved with you in it. 

The great thing about a relationship with Jesus is that it is constant. Today, he’s inviting you to experience more of him in your life. Let me encourage you one more time with the wisdom from Proverbs:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” - Proverbs 3:5-6