GETTING TO KNOW
HIM
By Pastor
Dick
Sometimes the Lord has to
put me through some unusual experiences to bring my attention to what He wants
to give me to write about. This time it was a message for His precious
Bride.
This unforgettable, bizarre
event that I will try to describe happened to me one Easter about five years
ago. My wife and I were staying at a friend’s house for the weekend in upstate
New York, and another friend who lived nearby invited us and several others to
her home for Easter dinner. When we arrived at her house, several cars were in
the driveway, so we knew that most of the other guests were already there. Our
hostess had told us earlier who would be at the dinner, and most of them were
Christian friends, some of whom we had not seen in a long time.
At the time, we owned a big
Irish Setter dog named Clancy. It was difficult for me to go anywhere without
him for he was like my shadow, but he had not been invited to this Easter dinner
and would have to stay in the van. After I parked in the driveway, the dog
needed to be tended to before being left alone; so I asked my wife if she would
like to go in first while I took care of him, and that I would be in shortly.
She then went on ahead into the house and I entered about ten minutes
later.
I enjoyed meeting again with
my Christian friends. While I was greeting one after the other, I noticed a
stranger in the background, a woman who seemed alone in the crowded room. I had
a feeling in my heart that she needed to be greeted so she would not feel
like an outsider. During the next several minutes, I glanced at her three times
and noticed how she still looked so alone and out of place. I wondered why my
friends neglected to introduce her to me. I decided that when I had the chance
to meet her, I would give her a warm, friendly greeting.
When I came to the place
where she was standing, I looked her straight in the face and held out my hand
as I said, "Hi. My name is Dick. What’s yours?" She responded by shaking my
hand, and as soon as her hand touched mine, I got the shock of my life: She was
my wife!!
Then she continued to go
along with what she thought was my little joke, and said, "Hello. My name is
Roberta!" She laughed, and the other guests who were nearby also laughed at the
little comedy scene that was taking place. I also choked out a little laughter,
but felt as if a bolt of lighting had hit me! My wife told me later that, for an
instant, she had a sense I was not kidding, but then the thought completely left
her mind. No one there realized I was not joking, so I knew I had gotten away
with it. I decided that this would be my secret for life; I would never tell
anyone, especially my wife, that it was not a joke!
For the next couple of hours
I was beside myself; I thought I must be losing my mind. I did lose my appetite
and could not enjoy the delicious ham dinner served by our hostess. All I could
think of was how could I, after living with my lovely wife for more than thirty
years, fail to recognize her?! It is no wonder I had lost my appetite; I was
bewildered and devastated. All I wanted to do was go some place where I would be
alone so that I could pray and ask the Lord for help.
Shortly after eating what I
could of my dinner, I excused myself by saying that I had left my dog in the
van and needed to take him
for a walk. That was not the truth; it was more like a half truth, but it did
get me out of the house. Then as I was walking on a sidewalk in Utica, New York,
the Lord spoke to my heart and told me that He had not given me "the spirit
of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7).
Immediately after hearing that He had given me a sound mind, the incident no
longer troubled me, for I knew that in it was a message from the
Lord.
Later that evening, as all
the guests were seated in the living room, I decide to share my strange
experience with them, for I no longer wanted to keep it a secret. When they
heard it, they were amazed; they didn’t know what to say. No one there,
including my wife and I could figure out why the Lord would have me go through
such a strange experience, so we just left it in God’s hands. Then, from time to
time over the next couple of years, we would remember it, laugh about it, and
try again, unsuccessfully, to figure out what it meant.
Then one day, while driving
home from a trip, we were discussing the event again, when suddenly a revelation
came to my wife. She knew exactly what it meant to her. She told me how God had
set the whole thing up because He had been trying to get a message through to
her, and He wanted to use that strange incident to communicate it. Suddenly it
was all so clear to her. She said to me, "This is the meaning of the incident:
My Heavenly Husband, Jesus, was introducing Himself to me through you, my
earthly husband. My Lord is wanting me to get to know Him!"
I asked her if she would
please elaborate a little more on this for she, at the time, had known the Lord
for many years. Then she went on to explain how Paul the apostle had been
converted for about twenty-nine years when he wrote to the Christians at
Philippi, "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection"
(Philippians 3:10). She continued to say how she had known the Lord for
twenty-six years, but that now He wanted her to really know
Him—intimately! She said, "Imagine! . . . the God of this universe setting up
that whole thing, purposely blinding you to my true identity, in order to
communicate His desire to me. And on Easter Sunday—Resurrection
Day!"
After that I meditated much
on the experience and it was unfolded to me that the message in it was not only
for my wife but for me and all others who are and who will be married to the
Lord. The message is this: Our
Lord wants His Bride to become better acquainted with Him!
The Bible tells us to
grow "in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter
3:18). That word "knowledge" comes from a Greek word epiginosko
(ep-ig-in-oce’-ko), which means "to become fully acquainted
with." Yes, we know
Jesus as our Savior, but do we really know Him well; are we fully acquainted
with Him?
He loves his Bride more than
we can ever comprehend. This is how our Lord speaks about His marriage to us
that takes place when we are united to Him in the new birth: "I will betroth
thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness,
and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee
unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord" (Hosea
2:19-20). Oh, if we, the Bride, knew how much He loves us and desires us to be
close to Him, we would be more aware of just how wonderful this divine marriage
is. If we really knew how good God is, we would want to spend all our lives just
as close to Him as we can get!
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