Knowing God

 

I’ve been working through J. I Packer's Knowing God for the past several months. I’m reading, taking notes and looking at the study guide questions. 

One of the first questions he asks is what is my ultimate aim? Why am I studying the Godhead? I suppose my hungering for it started when I read Tony Evans’ book, God Himself, while going through counseling in 2022. It was at a particularly rough time in my life, and in some ways that book was life changing. I was brought up in the church, accepted Christ at a very young age, Christian college educated, yet even though I had all the head knowledge, it wasn’t heart knowledge. I’ve been driven to know more about God as a result. I’m also driven to learn more about Covenant Theology, but that’s a different blog! 

Packer points out five truths, five foundation-principles about God: 

• God has spoken to man, and the Bible is his Word 

• God is Lord and King over his world, he rules all things for his own glory 

• God is Savior, acting in sovereign love through the Lord Jesus Christ to rescue believers from sin 

• God is Triune – the Father, Son and Holy Spirit 

o All three act together in salvation – The Father proposing redemption, the Son securing it, and the Spirit applying it. 

• Godliness means responding to God’s revelation in trust and obedience, faith and worship, prayer and praise, submission and service. 

I am driven to know more of God’s character, to understand him and His ways as he reveals himself to me. Then I am better prepared to tell others about what God has done in and through me.  I have found, since my major health issues and how I finally recognized God working, that I'm no longer afraid to freely share just what God did in my life.  It doesn't terrify me any longer, because one can't argue with my personal story.  So, it’s not just to gain knowledge, even if that is a lofty goal, but to actually act on it. I want to KNOW God, not just know ABOUT God. There is a difference. For example, I know about politicians, celebrities, etc, but I can’t say I really KNOW any of them. (Not that I really want to!)

 Packer lists four things that knowing God involves:

 

• Listening to God’s word and receiving it. 

• Noting God’s nature and character as revealed through Scripture. 

• Accepting His invitations and doing what He commands. 

• Recognizing and rejoicing in the love he has shown.

 Further on, Packer makes this comment, that will stay with me: 

 …those who know him – that is, those by whom he allows himself to be known – are loved and cared for by him. 

Do I “know” God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit? Do they know me? The disciples knew Jesus in a way that is different from how we do. They walked, talked, slept, ate, lived with him daily for the three years of his earthly ministry. Their experience was bodily - physical – while mine is spiritual. Truth about Jesus was revealed to them slowly, while we have the written word which contains all of it. Along those lines, Jesus taught them day by day with his “fresh words”, but today I can read it and understand how Jesus is revealed in every page of Scripture. But knowing Jesus is still a matter of personal discipleship. Jesus is the same today as he was then and knowing him involves the same – walking and learning from him. To know him is still the same – being saved by him from sin, guilt and death. It's a personal thing.  Packer explains it through three things:

• Knowing God is a matter of personal dealing, dealing with him as he reveals himself to me.
• Knowing God is a matter of personal involvement - mind, will, feeling - and committing to him, identifying with his purposes and concerns, and, most importantly, doing what he commands.
• Finally knowing God is a matter of grace.  And this is an area I am coming to understand better.  Packer reminds me that all the initiative starts with God - the drawing me to him.  

We don't make friends with God on our terms, but at his invitation and on his terms.  We can't seek him out unless he draws us.  But my question for my Calvinist friends is this: can we refuse to respond?  That's where I"m stuck.  And why I'm continuing to study.  

(All quotes from Knowing God, by J. I. Packer. Published by Holder Y& Stroughton Ltd, London,  1973. Pages 18, 39, 40-42.)