Read Part 1 Here                                       Read Part 2 Here

This is the third (and final) installment of our journey into the following Scripture passage:

I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices.
I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.
Hosea 6:6, NLT

Today we examine the second “command”: “…to know me…” This is my favorite part of this particular verse because it speaks to my spiritual longing—to know God more and more every day. So let’s again start by looking at the Hebrews words themselves. In this case, the Hebrew “yada Elohim” is what gets translated “to know God”…

Yada : Information of a person, with a strong implication of relationship to that person

Elohim : The God of creation and judgement

There are many names used to describe God in Scripture (specifically in the Hebrew texts) so it’s important to know which name is being used, and what it means. Elohim is the same name used all the way back in Genesis (”In the beginning God…”). It is the name most often used when describing God and often has an implication of “the God of Israel”.

Again, the context is important here. The God of creation, the God of Israel is calling His people back to Himself in Hosea. They have betrayed Him…turned to other gods and idols. And what does He want? He wants them to come back and to know Him. He wants a personal relationship with them.

Every time I think about this it blows my mind. The God who SPOKE the universe into existence wants to have a personal relationship with us…with ME! The God of creation wants me to know Him…wants it more than I want it…wants it more than He wants my “burnt offerings”. He does want my obedience and my sacrifice, but even more than that He wants me to know Him. Sometimes it’s hard to believe…but there it is.

So where does that leave us? Simply put, God wants us to show Him love and devotion and He wants us to know Him and have a personal relationship with Him. I don’t know about you, but knowing this is what God desires makes me want to work at it just a little bit harder—more deliberately and with a little more intentionality (maybe just with a little more heart and passion). It’s liberating to know that the God I desire and love desires and loves me.

In case you missed it, you can read Part 1 of this little “series” here.

We are looking a little deeper into the following passage of Scripture:

I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices.
I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.
Hosea 6:6, NLT

Specifically, we are going to unpack the first “command” in this passage: “to show love”. Let’s start with the words themselves. Of course these are Hebrew words:

Chasad : to show kindness (this is the “show” part of the phrase)
Hesed : love or affection that is steadfast based on a prior relationship, devotion

Together, these words translate into the phrase we see above: “show love”. Now let’s look at how other translations interpret this particular phrase:

NIV: “mercy”
ESV: “steadfast love”
NET: “faithfulness”
NASB: “loyalty”

That helped, right? Not a single version uses the same words or phrases to translate this particular set of words.  No worries, this just means that either it’s a hard one to translate or that it just has that many meanings…so it isn’t a “set in stone” kind of phrase.

That’s where context can help us out. In Hosea, God is trying to call his people back to Him. They have been acting as prostitutes (His words, not mine) and He wants them to return. He doesn’t want them to just “follow the letter of the law”, He wants so much more. He wants their hearts…He wants them to know and love Him because they choose to. He wants more than sacrifice that’s offered out of duty.

The “show love” that’s referenced here isn’t about us showing love to others. It’s about us showing love, faithfulness, loyalty, and mercy to God! He wants us to show Him love instead of acting like a prostitute and giving that “love” to anything that catches our fancy or draws our attention or gives us something we think we want or need.

He wants more than our sacrifice…He wants us to show Him love based on a real relationship with Him. Hasn’t that been God’s message from the very beginning? Wasn’t that Jesus’ message? He wants to know us and wants us to love Him (i.e.: Mark 12:30).

So the first “command” here is about loving God with everything we have…not out of duty, but because we have a relationship with Him. He wants us to show Him our love…it means something to Him. More to come…

This past Sunday our Worship & Outreach Pastor, Rowland Smith, taught on the topic of worship (I know, hard to believe). One of his primary points in the sermon was that true worship requires sacrifice. He challenged us to study the topics of worship and sacrifice in Scripture…so that’s what I did…and I was surprised by the first thing God showed me.

I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices.
I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.
Hosea 6:6, NLT

Now, at first it might appear that this passage is contrary to Rowland’s message that worship requires sacrifice. But that’s not the case. God is using a little hyperbole here to get our attention. God had commanded His people to offer sacrifices and He isn’t changing the rules here.

So what is God saying? He is saying that he requires MORE than just rote sacrifice…He wants more than the action of sacrifice…more than checking the box…He wants more than just us following the letter of the law. What does He want from us? He wants US. He spells it out in two simple phrases.

God wants us to…

…show love

…know Him

This might look and sound easier, but I don’t think that’s really the case here. Offering sacrifices had turned “easy” for God’s people, but it was supposed to cost them something (hence the word “sacrifice”). And here God says He wants more than sacrifice…so it would stand to reason that this is going to cost us even more.

This leads me to believe that there is more behind these concepts and words of “show love” and “know Him” than meets the eye. So over the next couple of days I’m going to break it down…study them…and share the results here. If you have, or get, and keen insights share those…we are all in this together!