Walking Closer

When you read the Book of Hosea you will find that he had the opportunity to feel what the Lord felt and to experience what Paul calls “the fellowship of His sufferings” (in Philippians 3:10). Paul said, “That I may know Him.”

You see, to truly know the Lord means not only to experience the power of the Lord, but to feel with Him. 

Only one man in the Bible was referred to as the friend of God in (James 2:23) and that was Abraham. God told him to take his only son whom he loved to Mount Moriah and offer him as a sacrifice to Him. Why did God tell him to do this? Centuries later, Mount Moriah would become known as Golgotha or Calvary. I believe God wanted His friend to experience something of the pain He would feel when His only Begotten Son would be sacrificed for our sin on the Cross on that very mountain. 

Sometimes the Lord allows us who want to to know Him more intimately, and to walk with Him more closely, and to know Him better, to experience the fellowship of suffering. You see, when we suffer, we can relate to the Lord on a deeper level than those times that are easy and prosperous. So God said to Hosea, “I’m going to allow you the privilege of feeling what I feel. 

Sometimes God allows us to go through suffering so that we can draw closer to Him and really know Him in a more intimate way.