Knowing God, Part 3
How to get to Know God More Intimately
"Grace and
peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and
of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything
we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him
who called us by his own glory and goodness." (2 Peter
1:2-4)
In Knowing God, Part 1 we saw that the above Bible text
teaches that simply knowing God is the key to peace, grace,
and everything we need for life and godliness. Then, in Part
2, we learned that this is not simply referring to a casual
knowledge of God, but an intimate relationship which can
only be had by study, fellowship, and by personally
experiencing God.
I don't know
about you, but I was born and raised in a Christian home. I
had Christian friends all of my life, and I made a practice
of memorizing scripture and studying my Bible for over 3
decades. So the study and fellowship aren't too hard for me
to figure out. But the part about personally experiencing
God. Now that's a different story! You see, I never learned
how to do that as a child. I went for 35 years thinking I
knew God, when in reality, I only knew about Him. And I've
learned much in the past 5 years that have helped me
immensely in really "knowing God". This is the subject of
today's devotional: How to get to know God more intimately!
How to get to know God more intimately . . . Hum. Well,
perhaps the question really is, how to get to know ANYONE
more intimately! Take a moment to think about it. Let's say
you have just noticed a pretty young lady sitting next to
you in your Bible class in Bible school. Not being attached
to anyone, your heart starts to race, nearly skipping a beat
every time she glances your way. A quick inspection of the
left hand puts your mind at ease: No ring.
So what do you do? Do you get out your college yearbook and see what it says about this person? Sure. That's a way to at least find out her name!
Do you ask all your friends if they knew her? Yes, this might not be a bad thing to do either.
What about trying to sneak in a brief conversation just before class starts? Also a good choice.
But none of
these options will really let you get to know your Bible
school neighbor, will they? No, I don't think any of you
would argue with me when I say that to truly get to know
her, you have to spend time with that person!
But what if your first conversation went something like
this? Hi! My name is Lyn. I saw you sitting next to me in
Bible school. Do you think you could give me a few of your
answers on tomorrow's quiz? And I really need a ride into
town. Would you mind? And my brother needs a new pair of
jeans. I thought you might have an extra pair. Oh. And we
are almost out of food. Could you lend me a quart of milk?
Oh, it has been so nice chatting with you! Let's do this
again sometime -- say, tomorrow?
You get my point. This pretty young lady would probably
never speak to you again!
Okay. Let's try a slightly different scenario. Let's say you
make an effort to talk to her for 30 minutes every Sunday
morning? The response is very positive, and she expresses an
interest to spend time with you more often. But things are
busy. After all, you are trying to hold down a full-time job
and go to Bible school . . . so Sunday morning is the only
time you can spare. And even then, you are in a group of
people, and most of your attention seems to be on the others
around you. After all, you want to make sure you're talking
to this person in the same way others are . . .
Again, I'm sure you get my point. Limited communication
would occur, but you probably wouldn't really "get to know"
the person very well!
Back to the drawing board.
Let's say that
you and your fellow classmate have actually hit it off
pretty well. You are spending plenty of quality time
together, both of you are enjoying the company of the other,
you are even talking on the phone until past mid-night every
evening! But you are having trouble believing what she tells
you. It's not that this person is known to lie or anything
like that, but you've been lied to many times in the past,
that you just can't seem to trust that what she says is
true. When she says she will call, you don't really believe
she will. And to avoid disappointment in case she doesn't,
you pick up the phone and call first. Or when your friend
promises to take care of something for you, you don't feel
comfortable, so you do it yourself. Then something terrible
happens. Your new friend says she is there for you, but you
don't feel comfortable letting them into your little world .
. . And soon you begin to feel that you are drifting away.
After all, who needs a friend you can't rely on, anyway?
I could give a few more examples, but I think you understand
my point. When we want to establish a relationship with
someone, we have to: a) spend quality time with them; b)
enter into two-way communication with them; and c) base your
relationship, from the beginning, on a foundation of trust.
It is no different with our relationship with God, my
friends! Building a relationship with our Heavenly Father is
a lot like building the relationships we build on a daily
basis! It requires that quality time be spent together, time
in which both parties are giving the chance to communicate.
And, it needs to be built on the foundation of love, trust,
and mutual respect!
But so often, when we are dealing with our relationship with
God, we find ourselves giving this low priority. We spend
little or no quality time with God, and the time we do spend
is usually spent in going over a to-do list -- a list of
requests. We talk, but we don't listen! And so often we fail
to really trust in our God.
Just as these scenarios are doomed for failure when building
earthly relationships, they are also doomed for failure in
building a relationship with God. He has so much more He
desires to give us. But He can't, because we don't know how
to communicate with Him. We don't have a relationship with
Him.
Why not give this a try, my friends? Try spending daily
quality time with God. Try listening as well as speaking.
Try giving God all of your trust. Then sit back and enjoy
the blessings He so wants to pour out upon you!
To learn more about how to communicate with God more
effectively, see Thursday's edition of The Illustrator, for
Knowing God, Part 4.
God bless you as you seek to know Him!
Love in Christ,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart,