I did not come right out and say it yesterday, but I was still persuading you to the value of pursuing a study of God...however, please keep in my that this is not just a study about God, we are not only seeking knowledge about God, we are seeking to know HIM intimately. The Pharisees had a lot of knowledge about God, but they did not know HIM! Do you remember the hard words of Jesus in Matt 5:20? "For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." This is impossible apart from the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ...imputed, is nothing more than another word for credited. When we receive Jesus Christ by faith, when we believe on the LORD Jesus Christ HIS righteousness is credited to us...then and only then may we begin the journey of knowing and loving God!
In Psalm 147:10-11 we learn that "His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, 11 but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love." Remember fear is a reverential awe and wonder, fear is holding the proper honor and respect for the Creator of the universe...constantly holding in mind that this Creator took on human flesh and took my place and your place on the cross. It was HIS shed blood on the cross that opens the way for us to know HIM intimately...apart from the cross this is impossible!
If Psalm 145:3 is true...and it is, then what do we do? How do we proceed? The Psalmist writes, "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable." If God is unsearchable what in the world do we do? The verse says unsearchable not unknowable! We know from other passages God wants us to know HIM...remember Jeremiah 9:23-24 and Hosea 6:6, just to mention a few. The simple point is this...you and I will NEVER KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT ANY ONE THING ABOUT GOD! You will never search out and grasp all of God's love! His love is knowable, but you will never know it exhaustively...HIS grace is knowable, but you will never search out HIS grace and know it exhaustively. Get it...the Bible does not reveal everything there is to know about God! The bible reveals what God wants us to know about HIMSELF!
I have long loved and been convicted by this song of Michael Card's Know you in the now.
Echo of history
A light so many strain to see
The One we talk so much about
But rarely ever live it out
Could You tell me why
Was it for this You came and died
A once a week observance
When we coldly mouth Your words
Chorus
Lord I long to see
Your presence in reality
But I don't know how
Let me know You in the now
We should confess
We lose You in our busyness
We've made You in our image
So our faith's idolatry
Lord, deliver me
Break my heart so I can see
All the ways You dwell in us
That You're alive in me
I have to ask myself...do I long to know HIM as HE is or as I want HIM to be? It sounds like an easy answer, it is an easy answer...difficult to live out.
Pressing, pursuing, burning to know YOU as YOU are Father!
love,
m