Knowing God

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Knowing God

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One of the most profitable subjects in the entire Bible, is God—Who He is; what He wants for us; what is required of His children; and how powerful, loving, and merciful God is. It requires the help of the Holy Spirit to receive a right knowledge of God. The main object of the Gospel is to acquaint us with God, and enable us to really know Him.

If an infant was kidnapped from its parents before it knew them, the parents would do everything possible to bring the child back home to them, and to restore a right relationship, so they could get to know each other. It is the same with God, but we have been born away—not kidnapped. From the day of our birth, we have no knowledge of God, and could not give any accurate information about His nature.

In our natural condition, if we were asked to write a thesis on the character of God; what He is like; and what He would do under certain circumstances, it would be opposite to what God is actually like; it would be far from the truth.

Thus, one of the most important things is to know God, because—not only do our blessings in this life depend upon it, but our answers to prayer; how we act in faith, and everything else depends upon knowing who God is; what He is like; how powerful He is; and what He is willing to do for anyone who knows Him enough to put their uncompromising faith in Him. Once we know God, acting in faith is easy.

In business transactions, we want to be acquainted with the person who is doing work for us. Just to the extent that we know them, is the extent of how much we trust them. It is a question of how reliable they are, and not the amount of faith we have. Our faith will be gauged by our knowledge of the repairman’s competence.

With God, all doubt and unbelief would disappear, if we knew Him as He is. One look at God should fill us with confidence, peace, and trust. Looking at an empty plate does not satisfy our hunger. All our supplies are to come from God, so we should look at Him continually. Isaiah 45:22 "Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”

All through Scripture, God is exalted, as He is to be everything to us, and to supply everything for us. Psalm 121:1-2 “I will lift up my eyes to the hills—from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.”

The pride within Job brought him to an ash heap full of sores, but after much soul searching, and help from God, Job finally got his eyes off himself and on to the Lord. Job began to know God and what His great love, mercy, and power would do. He was finally able to say Job 42:5-6 ”I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

Job only had to pray once after that, and then not for himself, but for his friends. One good look at God, and getting to really know Him, turned his entire situation around. Job 42:10 ”The Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.”

When we begin the Christian life, we often see nothing but ourselves—what we have to accomplish by our own strength, ability, or knowledge. Too many times, it is half “I” and half “God,” but God’s great love and mercy will bring us to where we forget the “I” part altogether, and keep our eyes, our faith, and our trust totally on God.

The Holy Spirit is bringing us to where God is everything, and all our help comes from Him. God always treats us better than we treat Him. If we will commit any situation or any person into His hands, He will see that the best will result. God’s greatest gift to us is His Son Jesus—Who is God’s express image. When we get to know God, and look to Him for the change, the healing, or the deliverance needed, we will be filled with a heavenly calm and peace that is beyond human understanding. That is the inevitable result of getting our eyes upon God.

The flip side, however, when we keep looking at seen things; upon the devil, and what he wants to put on us, then the trials and tests magnify and try to overwhelm us. One good look at God fills us with quietness, peace, and confidence in His divine power.

Hebrews 12:1-2 ”Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”

Knowing the character of God—what He is like; how He works, and what He wants to do for His creation, is vital information. Truly understanding the character of God can bring us many blessings—not only in this life, but also leading us to His kingdom. John 17:3 "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

When concluding His prayer, Jesus gives the reason why the world is where it is today; it is the fundamental reason why the world is filled with wickedness, sin, strife, sorrow, and sickness. John 17:25 "O righteous Father! The world has not known You.” That is the secret—the world has no knowledge of God, even though knowing Him is the most important truth of the Bible.

Satan’s object is to present the world in dazzling lights to keep people occupied with; interested in; spending time on; or totally engrossed with things of this life—effectively preventing them from learning anything about God. If the devil can have a person occupy all of their time with various duties, interests, and activities, he will succeed in what he wants to accomplish.

It matters not what the interest, duty, or activity is, no one can afford to allow their spiritual life to suffer or be ignored. Everyone must take the time to know God and have a real knowledge of Him, because that is the foundation of a successful walk by faith each day. No matter how important a responsibility may seem to be, we cannot allow it to occupy so much of our time as to shut out the opportunities of acquiring a knowledge of God.

Everyone will meet God some day—face to face—either at the Great White Throne judgment, or at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, so we need to really know Him—since knowing God includes many blessings in this life, and eternal life also. God tells us to receive His words and to keep His commands Proverbs 2:5 ”Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.”

Satan has a million ways to succeed with his objective. He has someone say something to us that would have us worry or be upset about what was said, or why they said it. The devil wants us to get our eyes off God and on to a person. Our objective is, however, to always have our eyes on God, and to know what His Word says about any situation. Jesus said Matthew 5:44 ”Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you”—it makes us God’s children.

The Word of God is the only place where the character of God is revealed, and is the only accurate explanation of Who God is and what He wants to do for us. Nothing outside the Word could be trusted to give a true description of God—whether it be in nature, things that happen in the world, or in individual lives—because those things could be, and often are, controlled by the devil.

The world blames God for everything wrong that happens in the world—asking why He allows wars, illness, and atrocities to happen, etc. But all such things are caused by humans—who are controlled by the devil. God made this world as it should be, made a human being as he should be, and then gave him the power of choice—the greatest gift he could give a created being.

The way Adam used his power of choice turned the world over to the control of the devil. All the evils in this world are not according to the will of God, but are the result of humans being controlled by Satan and his agents. 1 John 5:19 “The whole world is under the control of the evil one.” The devil said to Jesus Luke 4:6, "All this authority [power] I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.”

Jesus also said John 14:30 ”The prince of this world [the devil] is coming. He has no hold on me.” But there is a true Prince of Peace [the Lord] Who is coming, when Satan will be cast out, and the world restored to its rightful God-planned condition. Habakkuk 2:14 ”For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”

The love of God is the most wonderful part of His divine character—as it is with any human being. Love always does the very best, and buys the grandest gifts, for the loved one. The human heart must love something supremely—but too often that love is tainted with selfishness or marred by sin. If one word could express the character of God, it is love 1 John 4:8; “for God is love.” It is pure, undefiled, and without a flaw.

It is great to have a God with Whom neither money, nor fame, prestige, culture or color makes any difference, because Acts 10:34 “God is no respecter of person.” 1 Corinthians 13:4 ”Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.”

Love never spends its time telling about itself; never uses the proud word “I”; never boasts about what it accomplished, and never thinks itself better than anyone else. Divine love wants the loved one to get the best of the deal. Knowing God and how much He loves us, is very assuring, because John 3:16 “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”—that is the best deal for anyone!

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