People have all sorts of things that they are passionate about and that they doggedly pursue. So many things come to mind: power, fame, riches, the praise of others, and so on. But most people are not pressing on as to what really matters; to know God, to love God, and to serve God.
In 1980 Bob Dylan released the album Saved. On it was the song “Pressing On”. The lyrics of it are as follows:
Well I’m pressing on
Yes, I’m pressing on
Well I’m pressing on
To the higher calling of my Lord.
Many try to stop me, shake me up in my mind,
Say, “Prove to me that He is Lord, show me a sign.”
What kind of sign they need when it all come from within,
When what’s lost has been found, what’s to come has already been?
Well I’m pressing on
Yes, I’m pressing on
Well I’m pressing on
To the higher calling of my Lord.
Shake the dust off of your feet, don’t look back.
Nothing now can hold you down, nothing that you lack.
Temptation’s not an easy thing, Adam given the devil reign
Because he sinned I got no choice, it run in my vein.
Well I’m pressing on
Yes, I’m pressing on
Well I’m pressing on
To the higher calling of my Lord.
One biblical text that comes to mind as to this notion of pressing on to know and serve God is Hosea 6:3: “Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord.” The fuller context is about how Israel and Judah are unrepentant and need to get back in relationship with God. Verses 1-3 say this:
“Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.”
This is what truly matters in life: pressing on to know the God who created us and who will one day judge us. Richard Phillips comments on what this ‘pressing on’ entails:
It means to know the Bible’s teaching about God, which is the most elevating knowledge that anyone can have. It also speaks of the marriage context of this book. We must know God and covenant faithfulness, drawing near to Him, and worship with hearts filled with love and praise. “Let us … know the Lord” means a life of fellowship with God as his Spirit lives within us, as our walk is guided by his word, and as we walk with him in the spirit of prayer. “Oh, let us know the Lord,” Hosea would cry to the shallow, compromised church of our time period. “Let us press on, with all our vigor and might, setting aside every idol and false support, to know God better and live more fully before his face. For “this is eternal life,” Jesus claimed, “that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3).
Tim Chester takes Hosea’s plea to press on to know the Lord and makes it practical:
“Pursue God. Put yourself in a place where you are exposed to His Word. Meet with His people. Read the Bible. Plead with Him. Today you can acknowledge the Lord. Acknowledge Him as Lord. Submit your life to Him. Put your faith in Him. And, with Hosea, I promise you He will come to you.”
The Minor Prophets: Seek the Lord and Live (Preaching the Word Commentary)by House, Paul R. (Author), Coleman, Stephen M. (Author), Hughes, R. Kent (Series Editor)
And in the brand-new Preaching the Word commentary on the minor prophets, Paul House speaks of how we really come to the Lord. The first step is repentance. He discusses what repentance means, and then says this:
The second step is for God to raise them up so they can live in his presence. Only God can raise up a people as spiritually dead as Israel (see Ezekiel 37:1-14; Ephesians 2:1-10). Hosea declares, “After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up” (Hosea 6:2). The phrase likely means quickly and in a manner that is like other great deeds God has done on the third day. God can raise the lifeless nation. This promise reminds us of God raising Jesus from the dead. In fact, this verse may stand behind 1 Corinthians 15:4. New Testament writers at times indicated that what happened to Israel happened to Jesus (see Matthew 2:15). If God can raise Israel on the third day, then he can raise Jesus on the third day.
God does not raise Israel to sin again. Rather, he raises them to “live before him” (Hosea 6:2b). This phrase means “to live for him in his world as he directs.” It often indicates proper obedience and worship when it occurs in the Old Testament (Psalm 24:4-6; 27:8). When God takes Israel from death to life, he will also take them from unfaithfulness to obedience.
Thus raised, the people will know the Lord, according to Hosea 6:3. Indeed, they will pursue hard after him (v. 3b). Once they are headed in the right direction, nothing will stop them from closely following their life-giving Lord. As they pursue him, they will receive refreshment akin to regular rain throughout the growing season (v. 3c). God’s nurturing will be as constant as sunrise and sunset. His people will find that he meets all their needs.
House continues:
I think verse 3 is beautiful. It is like 2:14-23, where God promises to woo, win, and provide for Israel. God’s response to repentance is always lovely. He takes people as they are, as if they never sinned and as if they will never sin again. Therefore, every time his people repent, they receive a down payment on what they will experience forever in the kingdom of God. The beauty of forgiveness follows close on the heels of repentance.
How real is our repentance? We do not have to engage in obsessive self-examination and self-criticism to find out. In fact, we can easily mistake sorrowful self-loathing for repentance. Sadly, this type of sorrow may be just another form of self-reliance. The depth of our sorrow is not the key to real repentance. Rather, real repentance means turning to and walking with God. It accepts God as the goal and his gifts as what we need.
Israel did not seek this goal and did not want what God offered. In contrast, those who want Christ do not want sin. They will struggle daily with sin, as we all experience, but they continue the battle because they want Christ.
Thankfully the power to repent does not come from us. God gives us his Word and his Spirit to bring us to repentance. He gives healing and life to sustain us in the war against sin. He has taken away the penalty of sin and opened the way of life. In short, he raises us up and gives us life, as both Hosea 6:2, 3 and Ephesians 2:5, 6 attest.
Correct. Even the desire and the willingness to pursue God and press after him is really a gift of his to us. We tend not want to pursue him and make him our first priority. But he graciously helps us here. As the old prayer goes, “Lord, make me willing to be willing”!
Or as the father of the child healed by Jesus said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” Thank God that he is faithful to us when we are so often unfaithful to him. If you sense you need to more wholeheartedly pursue the Lord, then simply ask him to help you in this.
A prayer like that is a prayer that the Lord will always honour. As Paul put it in Philippians 3:14: “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Slow Train, Saved and Shot of Love contain some of the most inspired songs l have heard. My favourite Dylan song is Every Grain of Sand, which l understand he closes his concerts with. Quite obviously, l am a Dylan tragic.
Slow Train, Saved and Shot of Love contain some of the most inspired songs l have heard. My favourite Dylan song is Every Grain of Sand, which l understand he closes his concerts with. Quite obviously, l am a Dylan tragic.
Good stuff Ken.