Knowing God
A few hours ago, I found myself outdoors enjoying this amazingly beautiful day. There's something special about the first few days of spring after the cold quiet of winter days. Suddenly birds can be heard, and the sun is warm. Walking with Bailey in the backyard, I started thinking about all the wonderful things I've known and experienced in this life. The pungent scent of pine needles warmed by the sun struck my nose, reminding me of the stillness I used to feel in the forest as a little girl. How many sunny days have I enjoyed? How many times have I smelled the first sweet perfume of flowers on the wind? More than I can count.
I know sometimes I overlook the small things, which are the very things that make living so meaningful. I've been attempting to focus more on these small joys: the taste of food, the sounds of music, the stunning beauty of the sky.
In the same way, I've been focusing more on relationship. I enjoy people so much. I love being with others, especially hearing what they have to say. I am a lover of stories, after all, so it shouldn't be surprising that I love to hear about people's lives. Isn't that how we come to know other people, by being with them and hearing the things they tell us about themselves? It is a marvelous, joyful thing that we are able to experience the world and to know people.
In the same way that we know things, experiences, and people, it is possible to know God. For some of you, that statement is going to sound like an no-brainer. I've thought,"I know God," many times over the years, but lately, I begin to see that there's much more there than I realized. A.W. Tozer says,
I must confess that for the longest time I have been like that person who's never exactly tasted the spaghetti. God was an ideal to me, not a real person with a personality, not someone who could be truly known. As you might imagine, experiencing God isn't quite the same as ordering a plate of pasta, but it isn't exactly complicated either.
First, I had to realize that doing things for God isn't the same as knowing him. Talking to other people about him, ministering to the needy, or showing up to worship services are all good things, and I'm glad to say that I do them. However, doing those things isn't the same as experiencing God. Sometimes God can be experienced within them, and doing them is certainly an expression of my devotion for God, but none of them are a replacement for simply seeking him out for his own sake. Think about your own dad. What if you bought him groceries, watched movies with him, and told your friends about him, but you never actually had a conversation with him? If you really wanted to know your dad, you'd make time for him. You'd talk to him. You'd listen to him.
It's the same with God. Step one is as easy as asking him to show himself to you. When it finally dawned on me that knowing God more was a matter of prayer, I asked, and he answered. I began to see him more clearly at work in my life and in the lives of those I love. After all, he promises that we can know him. He invites us in the 34th Psalm, "O taste and see that the Lord is good" (vs.8).
Of course asking only works if we have faith, which sounds easy to have but isn't. The author of Hebrews says, " But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him" (11:6). We have to believe in him, while we are bombarded by stresses, pressures, sights, and sounds that seem so much more real because they come to us through our five senses. Let's face it. It's really hard to focus on the spiritual when the temporal is just a touch away on an iphone.
As far as I can tell, knowing God takes time. It's a process, sometimes a long one; saints have known that for thousands of years.
It's important. How will I know if I'm really doing what God has willed for me if I haven't taken the time to ask him, or to even really know him? Not to mention the fact that me knowing him is his priority for me anyway. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, "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, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness'" (Matt. 7:22-23).
God wants us -- He wants our hearts most of all.
In the end no one can really say if you've known God or not except for the two of you. We can't know the secrets of other people's hearts; sometimes we can't even see the secrets of our own. Ask him to show himself to you, read his love letter (The Bible), and slow down a bit. Like any other relationship, there isn't a magic button you can push to make things right between you. God says in Genesis that he made us in his own image, so that means that you already know how to go about knowing him. Just ask yourself, "How do people get to know me?" or "How do I get to know other people?" Then whatever the answer to the question is, do it.
By the way, spending time outdoors on days like today will help too. When I walked under the trees today, nobody was with me, but I wasn't really alone.
I know sometimes I overlook the small things, which are the very things that make living so meaningful. I've been attempting to focus more on these small joys: the taste of food, the sounds of music, the stunning beauty of the sky.
In the same way, I've been focusing more on relationship. I enjoy people so much. I love being with others, especially hearing what they have to say. I am a lover of stories, after all, so it shouldn't be surprising that I love to hear about people's lives. Isn't that how we come to know other people, by being with them and hearing the things they tell us about themselves? It is a marvelous, joyful thing that we are able to experience the world and to know people.
In the same way that we know things, experiences, and people, it is possible to know God. For some of you, that statement is going to sound like an no-brainer. I've thought,"I know God," many times over the years, but lately, I begin to see that there's much more there than I realized. A.W. Tozer says,
To most people God is an inference, not a reality. He is a deduction from evidence they consider adequate; but He remains personally unknown to the individual.[...] To many others God is but an ideal, another name for goodness, or beauty, or truth; or He is law, or life, or the creative impulse back of the phenomena of existence. These notions about God are many and varied, but they who hold them have one thing in common: they do not know God in personal experience.Despite my years of worship and study about God, the idea that he can be known the way I know my mom or know what sunshine feels like seems radically revolutionary. Here's the way it occurred to me. Imagine you've never tasted spaghetti. You've talked to other people who've tasted spaghetti, you've read about how spaghetti tastes, and you've even had deep discussions about how you imagine it is, but you've never actually tasted it for yourself. Then one day, you eat some. No matter how accurate the ideas of other people about spaghetti have been or your own imaginings were, it is no substitute for actually eating it. Voila! Now you know the taste. It's that simple.
I must confess that for the longest time I have been like that person who's never exactly tasted the spaghetti. God was an ideal to me, not a real person with a personality, not someone who could be truly known. As you might imagine, experiencing God isn't quite the same as ordering a plate of pasta, but it isn't exactly complicated either.
First, I had to realize that doing things for God isn't the same as knowing him. Talking to other people about him, ministering to the needy, or showing up to worship services are all good things, and I'm glad to say that I do them. However, doing those things isn't the same as experiencing God. Sometimes God can be experienced within them, and doing them is certainly an expression of my devotion for God, but none of them are a replacement for simply seeking him out for his own sake. Think about your own dad. What if you bought him groceries, watched movies with him, and told your friends about him, but you never actually had a conversation with him? If you really wanted to know your dad, you'd make time for him. You'd talk to him. You'd listen to him.
It's the same with God. Step one is as easy as asking him to show himself to you. When it finally dawned on me that knowing God more was a matter of prayer, I asked, and he answered. I began to see him more clearly at work in my life and in the lives of those I love. After all, he promises that we can know him. He invites us in the 34th Psalm, "O taste and see that the Lord is good" (vs.8).
Of course asking only works if we have faith, which sounds easy to have but isn't. The author of Hebrews says, " But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him" (11:6). We have to believe in him, while we are bombarded by stresses, pressures, sights, and sounds that seem so much more real because they come to us through our five senses. Let's face it. It's really hard to focus on the spiritual when the temporal is just a touch away on an iphone.
As far as I can tell, knowing God takes time. It's a process, sometimes a long one; saints have known that for thousands of years.
A generation of Christians reared among push buttons and automatic machines is impatient of slower and less direct methods of reaching their goals. We have been trying to apply machine-age methods to our relations with God. We read our chapter, have our short devotions and rush away, hoping to make up for our deep inward bankruptcy by attending another gospel meeting or listening to another thrilling story told by a religious adventurer lately returned from afar.Tozer wrote that paragraph a few decades ago, but it couldn't be more true today. Although there's nothing inherently wrong with the activities and worship in our churches, sometimes I'm afraid we are using them as a band-aid to cover up the fact that we're not actually relating to God in any intimate, meaningful way. I know I've done it, and I'm working right now to strike a better balance for myself -- to worship and serve, but also to slow down and know God first.
It's important. How will I know if I'm really doing what God has willed for me if I haven't taken the time to ask him, or to even really know him? Not to mention the fact that me knowing him is his priority for me anyway. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, "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, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness'" (Matt. 7:22-23).
God wants us -- He wants our hearts most of all.
In the end no one can really say if you've known God or not except for the two of you. We can't know the secrets of other people's hearts; sometimes we can't even see the secrets of our own. Ask him to show himself to you, read his love letter (The Bible), and slow down a bit. Like any other relationship, there isn't a magic button you can push to make things right between you. God says in Genesis that he made us in his own image, so that means that you already know how to go about knowing him. Just ask yourself, "How do people get to know me?" or "How do I get to know other people?" Then whatever the answer to the question is, do it.
By the way, spending time outdoors on days like today will help too. When I walked under the trees today, nobody was with me, but I wasn't really alone.
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