I Know

 Are you familiar with the phrase, "Yada, Yada, Yada?" The popular 90's comedy Seinfeld did an entire episode on it. It's actually a Hebrew word and its root meaning is "to know or to understand." So, if one uses the phrase "Yada, Yada, Yada," they're in effect saying, "I know, I know, I know." Anyone who's had a child knows that this is one of the first responses they learn to any direction their parents may give them. It certainly was mine. It was my go to answer and always spoken with a defiant accent. It's also not confined to children. The landscape of adulthood is teeming with members of the Yada, Yada, Yada tribe. The tribe of "I know." We use it in relationships with one another. We also employ it in our relationship with Him.

The word Yada suggests a personal knowledge. When we are confronted with the truth of what His Word is saying, our response is most often, "I know," but do we really? When Jesus dealt with people, He wasn't moved by their praise or exclamations of loyalty. He knew what was in their hearts. They loved His works but they were not so fond of His words. Oftentimes, more unspoken than not, their response to Him was, "I know, I know, or more correctly, "Yada, Yada, Yada." Can you and I dare to go to our own relationship with Him to discover just where we respond in the same way? His words pierce our defenses and rather than melt before Him and deal with the need then and there, we, like the defiant child, simply say, "I know! I know Jesus, I know." Yada, Yada, Yada.

We probably don't have to go very far to find the last place we did this. The recent sermon message we heard may be it. We may have filled a notebook with our jottings, complimented the pastor as we left,but what, if anything has penetrated our hearts? What degree of transformation has taken place? Have we yet again simply said to Him, "Yada, Yada, Yada?"  We've heard it before, we didn't listen then, we're not really listening now. We think we already know. Because we think we already know, we can't hear. It can be just as true of the shepherd as it is of the flock.

John 17:3 reads, "Now this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." This is life. Knowing Him. Not all the "stuff" and trapping of religion or doctrine. Eternal life is at root knowing Him. It's a knowing that worships Him. It's a knowing that can do nothing else but worship Him.

At some point today, He will speak to you. Will you hear Him? Are you looking to hear Him? If you do, how do you answer? Will it be the Yada, Yada, Yada of the flesh and of death, or will it be the Yada of reverence, wonder, and intimacy? Will you miss Him because you think you already know, or will you receive so much more because you do know Him and are embracing the opportunity to know Him even more?

Blessings,
Pastor O