A journey from asking “Why?” to knowing “Who”.
1. A fairytale story
The year is 750 BC. In a kingdom filled with golden fields and sparkling rivers, there lived a faithful prophet named Hosea. He had a heart eager to serve his people; an outpouring of love desiring peace for the Kingdom of Israel. The Great King asked of Hosea a request which would’ve been rejected by most: He asked him to marry a women bound to be unfaithful.
“Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” - Hosea 1:2
Against all logic, Hosea obeyed. He married Gomer and loved her wholeheartedly. But the inevitable followed, Gomer was unfaithful. Yet God commanded Hosea to pay the price, set her free, continue to choose her, and continue to love her. Gomer could hardly believe it. She expected anger but found mercy. She expected punishment but found love.
The Church Fathers understood this to be a mirror of our relationship with God, the Bridegroom, and us, His Bride. The Bridegroom loves His people the way Hosea loved Gomer. When we wander, He calls us home. When we are lost, He seeks us. When we fail, His mercy is greater than our mistakes. His love remains faithful forever. He chooses us every day.
“The divine Word compares Jerusalem (the human soul) to a harlot wife who seeks another man; and compares His love for us to someone who loves his bride until death. God persists in proclaiming that His goodness and love for all men are only overcome on our part through forsaking our own care for our salvation and fleeing from God’s care for us.”Father Tadros Malaty
The story of Hosea leaves us with a question; who is this Bridegroom we have married?
Every marriage is shaped by how well we know the one we vowed ourselves to. The more deeply we know someone, the more confidently we trust them. The less we commit to knowing them, the harder it is to trust their intentions. Perhaps the same is true of our relationship with God.
2. Who is our Bridegroom?
From young we are taught about the 5 W’s – What, Why, When, Where and Who. When life inevitably gets difficult, the first four W’s are ones we instinctively direct at God, while we neglect arguably the most important one: Who. When we feel trafficked by hardships we resort to asking: “Why did God let this happen? Where are You God? When will You answer? What am I supposed to do now?” We get trapped in a never-ending loop because we begin by asking the wrong questions.
Perhaps the solution to our relentless hopelessness starts by asking ourselves who God Is? Because our understanding of who God Is, becomes the lens through which we interpret everything He allows, everything He withholds, and everything He gives. Our view of every circumstance becomes a reflection of who our heart believes God to be.
“Be still and know that I am God.” - Psalm 46:10
Many begin by interpreting this verse through the lenses of the word “still”. We see it as a calling to remain obedient to God’s gentle gaze and trust in His faithful will. We find it a platform on which to find silence in the chaos of our own thoughts: to find hope in the anxieties of our heart. But I wonder if when reading this, we already set ourselves up for failure when we neglect the true central focus of this verse. It is as though we are cooking a meal using only the recipe while forgetting the ingredients. So, while the recipe we are reading aims for us to find peace hidden in stillness, the ingredients that we are forgetting to buy can only be found in the second half of the verse: the knowledge of God. It was never about being still but rather acquiring the knowledge of God in which true stillness only can be found. When we know who God Is, that knowledge becomes the source of our understanding of every season we pass through.
3. Knowledge through experience
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” - Hosea 3:6
If knowing God is the key to stillness, then a question naturally follows: “what is knowledge?”
Unfortunately, the English language falls short of its Hebrew counterpart, “yada”. In English, we understand knowledge as a collection of understandings and facts that is to be acquired over time.
To learn more is to know more.
However, the Hebrew language presented knowledge as one that is not rooted in the mind but rather sourced from the heart: a distinction is made between knowing something and knowing someone. To know something is understood as possessing intellectual awareness of its properties, uses and being able to relay that information to someone else. Many times, we approach the “knowledge of God” in this exact manner; we limit the Almighty God into an array of attributes which we can list. To know someone (yada), on the other hand, means to have experienced them.
God is love, He is merciful, He is just, He is patient, He is gracious. And while these things remain true and important! … The point being made here is that God is not something but a Someone. He is not merely a subject to be studied, but a Person to be encountered.
The Psalmist writes:
“O LORD, You have searched me and known me.” - Psalm 139:1
Once again, we see the word yada. Surely David did not mean that God merely knew His name or where he lived. God knowing David here is His experience of the softness of his heart. His fears. His hopes. His failures. His repentance. God knew David because He walked with him. Should we not seek to know God in the same way?
We are taught that God is love but how do you KNOW that? Have you experienced it? Or more accurately, have you noticed the experience of love God has gifted you with?
How do you know God is patient?
Because you’ve watched Him wait for you.
How do you know God is merciful?
Because you’ve received forgiveness you never deserved.
How do you know God is good?
Because your greatest trials became the place where you came to know Him most deeply. Because you can look back on your darkest seasons and see Him weave beauty from what once felt meaningless.
Throughout scripture, God rarely asks us to trust Him without first revealing His heart. He continually makes himself known to us, not only by His words but through His actions. Abraham discovered Him as the Lord who provides. Israel learned that He is Deliverer. Peter came to know Him as the Shepherd who restores. Time and time again, God showed us that impossible situations are often the stage upon which His power is most clearly displayed. Every story reveals another facet of the same Bridegroom we first met in Hosea.
4. Turning our Why’s into Who’s
When suffering inevitably arrives, let us transform our instinct from asking why to asking, “Who are you Lord in this? Who are You calling me to be out of this?”
The Prophet Nahum teaches:
“The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him.” - Nahum 1:7
The Apostle Paul writes:
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” - Romans 8:28
We are never promised that things will be good. We are promised that all things are held by the hands of the One who is good. The word good was first used to describe how God saw creation. But why was creation good? Because it was created in the image and likeness of the One who is Good. Not the One who can be good or the One who can show goodness but the One who defines goodness.
“God does not allow a trial if something good does not come out of it. Seeing that the good that will happen is going to be greater than then evil, God leaves the devil to his work.”St. Paisios of Mount Athos
If we truly believe that God is good, every circumstance He permits must ultimately serve His goodness. Every blessing becomes an invitation to remember His generosity. Every trial becomes an opportunity for Him to restore His image of goodness within us.
Ultimately, the answer to who becomes the answer to why. When we come to know God’s character, we no longer interpret Him through our circumstances; instead, we begin interpreting our circumstances through Him. We may not always understand His ways, but we know His heart. And if His heart is good, then whatever He permits must also be working toward our good, even when we can’t yet see how. The why will always be loving. The why will always be for the best. The why will always be gracious. The why will always be faithful.
The why doesn’t matter when the Who is dictating the why. And when the Who I believe in is Christ, the why is revealed in Who we know He is.
I urge us not to forget the countless moments God has proven His character to us. I urge us also to apply this concept of Who to both our spiritual and earthly relationships. If we learn to lean on God’s character when circumstances seem to contradict it, we will also learn to extend the same grace to one another. We will remember the years of faithfulness over the moment of failure, the heart behind the mistake, and the love that remains despite imperfection.
“The knowledge of God is healing of our souls.”St. Athanasius
Written by
His Bride
