Very few things can transform a soul or bring greater peace than the power of true intimacy. We crave it because it satisfies a longing deep in our hearts. We were designed for it. Though it takes on many forms and faces in life, the intimacy I’m referring to here is that which takes place between God and His greatest creation, man.
Human beings are strange creatures in many ways, as we all know. We often tend to run from the very things we desire the most. Case in point, God created man for His own pleasure and intimacy with Him, yet it seems to be one of the most difficult things to engage in for so many. A perplexing concept in many ways, though I have come to realize women have a much greater capacity for intimacy and a far deeper grasp of it’s power than do men. It’s just the way they are made. Women are designed as receivers and understand the idea of being known in a way that men cannot conceive of. So in a spiritual sense they are quick to receive the idea of being filled by God in such an intimate way that it produces life. As we dive a little deeper into this subject, I believe we will have a greater appreciation for not only the unique design of women, but also ourselves as human beings and the God who desires the deepest levels of relationship with us.
The best way to unwrap this idea is from a Biblical perspective, which comes from one single Hebrew word. That word is yada (xdy) (pronounced yah-dah). Most of us have never heard of this word, or for that matter have a clue as to what it means; but as we untie the ribbons on this very special package, our concepts and perceptions of intimacy are more than likely to change.
The word yada on the surface means ‘to know’, acknowledge or understand. But this rarely used word from the Bible evokes an even deeper sense of knowing than just what comes from some sort of head knowledge or comprehensive awareness.
Yada is first used in Genesis 4:1 when it says, “Adam yada (knew) Eve and she conceived and gave birth…” It’s important to know that God Himself told Moses this story and specifically chose this exact word to communicate the deepest levels of knowing that a man and a woman can experience. In context, Adam knew Eve through their sexual intimacy. Why? Because it is there that they became echad – ONE! Even today the idea of ‘knowing’ someone in a relationship way between a man and woman refers to their going beyond just a friendship status. We’ve all heard the term, “he knows her in a Biblical way”. The word yada is where that colloquialism comes from. It’s one thing to know someone closely as a friend… to understand and connect with who they are as a person. I have several people in my life that I would classify as “intimate” friends. They know and love me in spite of my weaknesses and imperfections, as well as my failings. Their love for me is unconditional. But the knowing that is described in Genesis 4 is actually God’s greatest desire for us to have with Him. He longs for it and paid a heavy price to secure it; that being the sacrifice of His Son. Yada goes far beyond just intimate friends.
Y’shua/Jesus prayed in John 17, “that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us…” He’s talking about a level of intimacy that few comprehend; not just some mystical woowee woowee… but the actual union oneness! This is the very heart of God. He wants to be one with us in the most intimate way. WOW! This picture of sexual intimacy, in its most holy intent, evokes the most powerful union between two people. No wonder the enemies of God have polluted and perverted it since the beginning. Even the demons know this. They work extremely hard at trying to prevent man from being one with the One who created him. Why? First because of its power, and second because the fruit of that power is called “life”! If the fruit of a man and woman’s deepest knowing of each other produces life itself, how much greater is the level of life that is birthed from the yada that God wants between Himself and man?
To look at it from a different angle, religion, which is not based in, nor promotes intimacy, only brings emptiness, insecurity, inferiority, doubts and throughout the centuries, death. How many of you have been hurt by religious institutions and people? I know countless numbers who want nothing to do with God, because of people or organizations. Religion keeps God at a manageable distance. There is NO LIFE! God forbid we get too close! But relationship, which is what Y’shua/Jesus sacrificed Himself for so that man could be restored to truly yada God, is based in intimacy… and that intimacy births life!
Let me give you an example.
We all know the story of Moses and the Burning Bush! Moses was willing to go up to the mountain where this strange and mysterious bush was burning and yet not consuming the plant. The mountain rumbled and quaked. It inspired fear in all who could see it. Yet Moses wanted to get close. He wanted to know. And so he did. God rewarded his faith with an invitation… a sort of “Come on in Moses, take off your sandals and stay a while”. It was there the two of them began an intimate relationship. As the relationship developed, Moses was no longer afraid, but longed for the intimacy he was experiencing with YHVH. It was transforming him cell by cell! Moses and God yada each other and that yada inspired some of the greatest moments in Biblical history!
On the contrary, after the exodus from Egypt, at the base of Mt. Sinai, the children of Israel after seeing all the miracles and the power of God on their behalf wanted no part of intimacy with God. When they saw the rumblings and thunders and the fire of God on the mountain in Exodus 20, they were afraid to come close. They said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” The fruit of their fear was the golden calf… religion. Each time Moses went before the Lord his face radiated with the power of that intimacy… but the people couldn’t handle seeing him like that, so Moses wore a veil.
Just as the lack of intimacy between a husband and wife almost always bears the fruit of separation, confusion, doubt, mistrust, infidelity, and sometimes divorce, so the lack of intimacy with God does the same thing. It creates distance, faithlessness, unbelief, waywardness, and even death of the relationship.
Often times we think we are spiritual just because we happen to believe a certain way or we do all the “right things”. But all those things do not necessarily equate to a relationship with God based in yada. Paul described it like this in 2 Timothy 3:5, “a form of godliness, but denying its power.”
King David was the only one in the entirety of Scripture that God called, “A man after His own heart”. He understood that yada is the very heart of God. He comprehended it even as a young boy, and he pressed in after it his whole life. He wrote songs that conveyed his yada of God as he conversed with the Lord in the most intimate of ways. This was unheard of at that time, yet David broke all the rules. Even in David’s sin and transgressions, he knew God wanted to be intimate with him. That doesn’t mean he didn’t reap the consequences of some of his actions, but David knew there was no better place to be than in the intimate presence of God.
Even at the End Of All Things, yada is still at the heart of it all. Y’shua/Jesus said in Matthew 7:22-23, “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘Depart from Me, I never knew you…” The word "knew" is directly connected to the ancient Hebrew word yada. He is saying they were never intimate! God is not interested in religious works as much as He is in hearts that pant after Him, longing to be one with Him in the deepest and most intimate way.
So today, where are you in that process? Are you like the children of Israel, or are you like Moses… or King David? Does your heart long for that level of knowing and being known? Are you willing to be fully vulnerable and transparent before the One who knows all things?
Maybe a good place to discover where you are is by looking at your intimate relationships. What level of relationship do you have with those you love and how deep are you willing to allow yourself to go? It may just reveal something about your own personal relationship with God?
So maybe today is that day? Maybe today you willingly immerse yourself in the deep well of intimacy with the One who loves you more than you could ever know, and allow yourself to be forever transformed by it.
I’ll leave you with this thought… This is how Paul described his heart in Philippians 3, “I want to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” I used to think that lofty proclamation was an unattainable level of commitment and vulnerability. Then I discovered the word yada. Now I see it in a different light.
A little manna for the mind.
© 2010 Steven Bliss
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