Know · Part One
To be
Known all the
way through
The Bible has a word for knowing that goes deeper than facts. It’s the difference between knowing about God and actually knowing him.
The word
Yada
In Hebrew, the language most of the Old Testament was written in, the word for “know” is yada (יָדַע). And it almost never means “has the right information.”
Yada is knowing by experience. It’s how a farmer knows his land, how a craftsman knows the grain of the wood, how a husband knows his wife. It’s knowledge you can only get by being close — over time, through seasons, with your hands in it. Genesis uses this exact word for the deepest intimacy two humans can share.
So when the prophets say God wants to be known, they are not asking you to pass a theology quiz. You can memorize somebody’s biography and never once sit at their table. God is after the table.
“Let the one who boasts, boast in this: that he understands and knows me.”
Jeremiah 9:24, CSB
Prayer night · SOJO Church
Why it matters
Jesus defined
eternal life —
and it’s this
“This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent — Jesus Christ.”
John 17:3, CSB
Read that again slowly. Jesus didn’t define eternal life as a place you go when you die. He defined it as a relationship you can start now. Knowing God — yada-knowing him — is not the homework you do to get the life. It is the life.
That’s why religion by itself leaves people empty. Rules without relationship is a biography without a friendship. God told Israel plainly what he was after: “I desire... the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6). He still does.
Sunday morning · SOJO Church
Where to start
Knowing starts
with showing up
Get close
Yada-knowledge only happens near. Be in the room — Sundays at 9 & 11am. Worship is not a performance you watch; it’s a table you pull up to.
Read his story
Start with the Gospel of John — one chapter a day for three weeks. Don’t study it like a textbook. Read it like you’re getting to know someone.
Talk to him honestly
Prayer isn’t a script. Tell God the true thing, even if the true thing is “I’m not sure you’re there.” He has never once been scared off by honesty.
knowKnowing God is not step one of the life. It is the life.