Skip to main content

Knowing God



In his book Knowing God, J.I. Packer states that our number one purpose on this earth is to know God.1 “What aim should we set ourselves in life?” He asks. “To know God.”

 At the very beginning of the Bible, Genesis chapter 1, God commands “Let there be light.” When we read the Creation story, it wasn’t until day four that God actually brought light giving bodies into existence, with the sun and the moon and the stars put into their places. (Genesis 1:14ff) I think it is possible to contend here that the Light referred to is that light spoken of by the David in Psalm 119:105.2

For it is through God’s Light, and through God’s Word, then we have knowledge of God. He becomes that lamp that lights our way in the darkness of this world. As David cries out to God in Psalm 43:3 “O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your dwelling places.” Note that the Psalmist’s despair is assuaged only through praising God, and knowing God’s presence. Certainly, the light of the sun and the moon and the stars are important, but it is God’s light that is vital to us.

Thus, if knowing God is our purpose as human beings, then the obverse is true, that God knows us, for what we have is an established relationship, and that which began at the moment of creation. He wants to know us and be in relationship with us, as we should seek to know and be in relationship with Him.

Packer goes on to quote from Jeremiah 9:23. ‘Thus says the LORD, "Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things," declares the LORD.’

In this passage knowledge is not important, education is not going to help, and wealth has no leverage at all. The single purpose is knowing the God in whose light it is we walk. Of interest here is the use of the word “boast.” Another rendering of this word is “glory” and also “give praise.”

We can glory in nothing other than God as it is God who is the well spring of glory. What is it we have here on earth that can match He who has created all things? A stark reminder of this is found in the preceding verse: ‘Speak, “Thus says the Lord, ‘The corpses of men will fall like dung on the open field, And like the sheaf after the reaper, But no one will gather them.’” Whatever we rely on other than God will not lead us to salvation, but rather judgment. Why would anyone willingly choose sin as the default state of their being when it is God’s Love for which we were created, to know Him, and this rewarded with eternal life through Jesus Christ?

Everything is created by God for God. The last word here should belong to Job.

“If I have put my confidence in gold, And called find gold my trust,

If I have gloated because my wealth was great, And because my hand had secured so much;

If I have looked at the sun when it shone Or the moon going in splendor,

And my heart became secretly enticed, And my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,
That too would have been an iniquity calling for judgment, For I would have denied God above.” (Job 31:24-28)

When we read the account of Creation in Genesis, in our hearts should be the joy that everything is focused toward the purpose of our knowing God and being with Him. What Glory. What Grace. What Joy.

Amen.



1.     Packer, J. I. Knowing God. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1973. (35)
2.     Also Psalm 18:28 and Job 29:3 where light is a foil against the effects of spiritual darkness.

Popular posts from this blog

When life gives you lemons, think about the Cross

  Have you ever had one of those times when you just want to stand there and scream, not out of anger but out of sheer frustration? Sometimes when you have doubts that layer one on top of the other things start looking a lot like a Sara Lee pastry. What then? That old quip, “If life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” springs quickly to mind, but that isn’t really helpful is it? How can I make lemonade out of doubts? I can sit in the sun and sip that lemonade and still feel troubled by the things around me, by the grumps I have with my circumstances. So what do you do about doubt? The opening line to the hymn looms out of the shadows: “When my love to Christ grows weak, When for deeper faith I seek, Then in thought I go to thee, Garden of Gethsemane.” To think on this, I am reminded how small I am. How much tension, anxiety, even terror Our Lord must have felt while He prayed in the Garden. O, Father, take this cup from me, but only if it is Your will. He walked ahead, firm in His re...
Read more

Jesus, meek and mild

One of the things we get caught up on as Christian's is the word 'meek.' Somehow this word has come to mean wimpy, rather than just mild or gentle.  What was the original meaning? The word πραυς 'praus' is difficult to translate. Being meek does not mean being 'weak.' If we study Jesus as He is presented in the Gospel's we find He is anything but wishy washy. Here is a man who is firm and decisive in His actions. There is so much restrained strength in Him. And that's what meek means.  Meek is God's Strength, ALL of His strength under control in Christ.  We are limited in English as we do not have a word that encompasses this blend of both gentleness and strength.  Jesus is God's strength under control; it is now out own strength we are looking to. It is trust in God's goodness and control over any given situation, rather than self assertion or self reliance, is it Christ reliance. It is a deep knowledge that God's goodness is in acti...
Read more

Every thought is born of faith.

One of the things we do a lot of everyday, and we probably don't acknowledge it much, is thinking. Excuse my pun, but we don't think about the act or fact of thinking. Well, not very often, and usually only in passing. Most times it happens when someone asks "What do you think about that?" or "What are your thoughts on this?" But what is a thought? And for that matter what is thinking? A thought it seems is indeed one of those little pole vaulting zaps of electro-chemical energy, hopping from synapse to synapse.     Just as your heart beats and you lungs breath your brain thinks. That's what it's made to do. 100 billion nerve cells. All working towards the functioning of your body, and the 80,000 thoughts you have each and every day. I'm not sure I'm conscious of having that many, I mean, 80,000 is a lot (and who figures this stuff out? How on earth do you put a figure on that? Or is it one of those informed guestimates you are often given w...
Read more