Focus: Knowing The Lord! (Pt.2)

Text: Phil.3:10

"That I may know him…"

For Paul, personally knowing God is the most valuable asset of his life. He heartily desired it and earnestly committed himself to possessing it. J. I. Packer said, "Once you become aware that the main business that you are here for is to know God, most of life's problems fall into place of their own accord." Nothing can compensate for lack of the knowledge of God in one's soul. 

William Shakespeare wrote, "Ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven," and J. I. Packer avowed that "a little knowledge of God is worth more than a great deal of knowledge about him."

In this season of your life, make knowing and loving God your primary pursuit and main devotion. A. W. Tozer has this to say, and it is vital, "The Christian is strong or weak depending upon how closely he has cultivated the knowledge of God."

Don't settle for knowledge about God; seek earnestly to knowing God for yourself.

Commit yourself to "know him more deeply, follow him more nearly, and love him more dearly." You can't afford to settle for anything less. Henri Nouwen said, "I often wonder if my knowledge about God has not become my greatest stumbling block to my knowledge of God."

Bear in mind that you are seeking to know God who perfectly knows you. I repeat with emphasis that the Lord knows you. John reports that the Lord "knew all men… And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man" (Jh.2:24,25). Also, the Lord knows your need and how long you have been in that situation. John writes about the impotent man in John 5, "When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case…" (Jh.5:6). The Lord knows you and what you are going through now, and He knows what to do about your condition. John reports, "And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do" (Jh.6:6). Take it from me as from the Lord that He has adequate knowledge of your situation and absolute power to handle your issues. Peter says, "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished" (2Pet.2:9).

Another thing to realize is that God knows those who are His. Paul declares that "the Lord knoweth them that are his," and John tells us that the Lord was fully away of who would betray Him from the very beginning (Jh.6:64). Simply put, God is all-knowing. He is majestic in knowledge. He has a personal knowledge of you and requires that you know Him personally and intimately.

The miracle of divine knowledge is that those who know the truth are set free by the truth, as Christ declares in John 8.

Interestingly, God is the truth. Truth is more than a proposition; truth is a personality. Knowing truth means knowing God. 

Christ, in the New Testament, is the truth personified - the incarnation of truth. You will never regret knowing God; it is completely advantageous knowing Him. Joy and peace are at home in the hearts of those who know God and who are growing in that knowledge. The knowledge of God sweetens the soul and embolden the human spirit.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter