Hosanna Restoration Church

When we talked previously about the R’s of seeing, we touched briefly on each R. I feel like the Lord wants us to consider each in a little more depth. So we will start with the first, and that is recognizing God.

There are many ways that we recognize people depending on how well we know them. Some we just recognize by photo’s we have seen. The funny thing about that is that we may see only the photos of people at their best and not even recognize them on the street. If we have only seen a person in a movie or on television we could walk right past them and not even know it.

Another way that people are recognized is by accomplishments and for the accomplishments they may be given recognition. We sometimes recognize a name and because we know the name we associate certain things with that person. So we can recognize a lot of things without even knowing the person. Unfortunately, this is the way many people recognize God. No one has seen a photo, but His name conjures up different pictures. These pictures come from what we know. Some may only see God as the fire on the mountain. Some may see no picture at all because their recognition of God is that God is non-existent!

Adam and Eve walked and talked with God in the garden and knew Him intimately. They recognized the sound of Him walking, and of course the sound of His voice. They recognized His goodness and the peace that surrounded Him and it was good, until they recognized evil and because they did, they hid from Him. Evil cannot stand God’s presence. God never stopped loving them. That is why He came to them. We and all people need to recognize God as the one who loved us enough to give us all of creation and then go one giant step further and give us His Son, our Savior Jesus Christ because He desires to fellowship with us!

Moses recognized God in the burning bush because he was seeking God and God said when you seek Me, you will find Me. The people only recognized God as a mountain that could not be touched and did not want to get any closer. They did not recognize God by all that He did for them, only for what they did not have. Does that sound at all familiar? People who do not give God any recognition for anything good will quickly declare that God did something evil or allowed something evil as though they are authorities on the subject.

It is important that we recognize God so that we can declare the truth of who He is. When we know Him as He desires that we know Him, we will recognize Him in the smallest things and praise Him for all things. We will not stand by and hear His reputation drug through the mud.

We need to recognize what is true and right and just and worthy of praise and know that these are God and declare the same. We cannot settle for a hearsay revelation or second had description of what God is like. We need to know and recognize Him for ourselves. We should hear the sound of Him and rush to embrace Him. How do you recognize God?