{"id":4888,"date":"2025-09-17T08:03:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T12:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=4888"},"modified":"2025-09-18T08:33:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T12:33:13","slug":"i-know-i-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/17\/i-know-i-know\/","title":{"rendered":"I Know, I Know"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>

Until an episode during the eighth season of Seinfeld<\/em> in 1997 brought it into the spotlight, few Americans knew the meaning of \u201cyada, yada, yada.\u201d

Almost overnight it became a national catchphrase.

\u201cYada, yada, yada\u201d is essentially synonymous with \u201cblah, blah, blah\u201d \u2013 conversational fillers representing something so boring or inconsequential that it\u2019s hardly worth saying out loud.

For instance: \u201cI went to the meeting, and they gave us the same old pep talk about being the best of the best, yada, yada, yada,\u201d or, \u201cThe little tag on the mattress warns that if you cut if off, you\u2019d better hope your lawyer is good enough to get you out of San Quentin, blah, blah, blah\u2026\u201d

But \u201cyada\u201d \u2013 which is actually Hebrew for \u201cI know\u201d \u2013 is definitely not \u201cblah\u201d on the pages of Scripture. Three examples make that clear.

First, there\u2019s that famous line in Genesis 4:1 that describes Adam\u2019s relationship with Eve: \u201cAnd Adam knew [yada] his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain\u2026\u201d As the context reveals, this is a special kind of knowing. It is an intimate encounter or \u201ccarnal knowledge\u201d of another human being.

\u201cYada\u201d should not, however \u2013 to use contemporary language \u2013 be mistaken as a casual experience of hooking up. We know<\/em> another person, biblically speaking, when we offer our whole self so we can share with them our deepest love and affection for a lifetime.

\u201cYada,\u201d secondly, comes into play when we embody God\u2019s care and mercy for his creation. \u201cThe righteous know [yada] the needs of their animals, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel\u201d (Proverbs 12:10).

In our pet-crazy culture, people frequently ask if there\u2019s anything in Scripture that speaks to the value of loving animals. That\u2019s why this proverb hits home. Here, the righteous person (that is, the one whose heart and life are right with God) \u201cknows\u201d what an animal needs to survive and thrive \u2013 and therefore mercifully makes sure those needs are met.

Finally, \u201cyada\u201d is powerfully connected to pursuing justice and serving the poor. In Jeremiah 22:15-16, God applauds Josiah, one of the greatest kings in the story of ancient Israel. \u201c\u2019He gave justice and help to the poor and needy, and everything went well for him. Isn\u2019t that what it means to know [yada] me?\u2019 says the Lord.\u201d

In the Judeo-Christian tradition, there is an important distinction between knowing<\/em> God and knowing about<\/em> God.

American religious culture tends to spotlight the latter. Many churches suggest that if you can just pass a quiz on basic theological principles, you\u2019re living the spiritual good life. All you have to do is memorize a few verses, attend certain Bible studies, blah, blah, blah.

But the Bible itself consistently screams for the former.

What does it mean to know (\u201cyada\u201d) God? It means to put on our hearts what God has on his heart. That means that our hearts should be broken by the things that break God\u2019s heart: suffering, evil, injustice, poverty, despair.

It also means we\u2019re called to love the people that God loves (that would be the entirety of the human race), and to love them with radically faithful actions, not just empty words.

Yada, yada, yada<\/em>. \u201cI know, I know, I know.\u201d

By God\u2019s grace, we must be coming to know, more and more, how to love others, how to care for creation, and how to help heal this broken world.

There\u2019s nothing \u201cblah-say\u201d about that.

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here Until an episode during the eighth season of Seinfeld in 1997 brought it into the spotlight, few Americans knew the meaning of \u201cyada, yada, yada.\u201d Almost overnight it became a national catchphrase. \u201cYada, yada, yada\u201d is essentially synonymous with \u201cblah, blah, blah\u201d \u2013 conversational fillers representing something so boring or inconsequential… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4889,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[992,822],"class_list":["post-4888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-knowing","tag-seinfeld"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4888"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4890,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4888\/revisions\/4890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}