Knowing the Father in True Worship

Jesus told the woman of Sychar at Jacob’s well that the Samaritans did not know who they worshiped, John 4:22. The same can happen to you and me.

The Hebrew word for “know” is yada, which is the knowledge that results from a personal, interactive, intimate relationship. It is used exclusively of persons and what they share in a personal relationship. This is not knowledge about but rather the knowledge of.  

The first place you find this word is in Genesis 2:9, “The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge (yada) of good and evil.” God told Adam he was not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The consequences would be death.

In Genesis 3:5, Satan told Eve, “…you will not really die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” This word, yada, is used twice in that verse.

Adam and Eve knew God personally, interacting with Him in an intimate relationship of love and adoration. They knew Him as their Creator, Provider, Protector, and Companion. This lie from Satan was that they did not really know God and that He could not really be trusted, and that He did not really trust them either. It also called into question the goodness of the tree that God created and place right beside the tree of life in the midst of the garden!

The lie attacked the very heart of their lives with God, of their knowledge of Him with false knowledge about the tree, themselves, and about God. It made the knowledge about more attractive than the knowledge of. This was not the purpose of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which was right beside the tree of life, in the midst of the garden! More on that later.

As they entertained this false knowledge, it took over their senses and dulled their appetite for true knowledge, the knowledge of, yada, and we all know, all to well, the rest of the story.

True worship is from the truth of knowing (yada) the Father through faith in Jesus Christ. The desire to know Him more and more is true worship. To substitute knowledge about Him for knowledge of Him is to fall prey to the schemes of the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Today, memorize Psalm 119:125, “I am your servant, Lord; give me understanding (bayin), that I may know (yada) your testimonies.” Meditate on this prayer and your personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ.