Thus
says the LORD: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty
man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him
who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the
LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For
in these I delight,” says the LORD.
Jeremiah 9:23-24 NKJV
How
many friends do you have on Facebook?
That is, of course, assuming that unlike me you actually have a Facebook
account. Believe it or not, I actually
never have had one, and most assuredly never will yet I acknowledge that, from
all accounts, I am in the minority. One
of the things about it which has always confounded me is the importance to many
of the number of friends they have, regardless of the fact that they have never
even met them. Which of course, leads me
to question how they can actually be your friends if you never have? Now many would argue that they consider them
friends because they have come to know them by talking online but my question
then becomes this; is knowing “about” someone the same as actually “knowing”
them?
In
this passage from the book of Jeremiah, we find that God considers the most
important thing a man can do is to understand and know Him. In the Hebrew, the word know is actually part
of a phrase and according to Strong’s concordance is the word yâdaʻ,
yaw-dah'; which is defined as; “a
primitive root; to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing); used in a great variety
of senses, figuratively, literally, euphemistically and inferentially
(including observation, care, recognition; and causatively, instruction,
designation, punishment, etc.).” I
think that most of us, even without reading that definition or by examining the
context of the passage above could easily conclude that God is not telling us
to simply “know about” Him, but rather to commit to establishing and
maintaining a relationship in which our sole desire is to really “know” Him in
the fullest sense of the word.
“And
this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ whom You have sent. John
17:3 NKJV
Assuming
it is our desire to do this, the question then becomes how best do we
accomplish knowing God in the way He desires us to? In truth, I believe we best do that exactly
how we do it with those around us whom we choose to be friends with. In other words, ask yourself who the person
is in your life that you consider to be your best friend, and then think about
how that came to be. I think most of us
would say that there were steps involved along the way that helped what started
as a friendship eventually turn into a relationship which is something much
different than simply knowing someone. I
would hazard a guess that most of us would readily admit that spending a great
deal of time getting to know someone intimately was a very important step to
eventually understanding what made them
special. Is it no wonder then that God
asks this very same thing of us?
How can
a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.
With my whole heart I
have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have
hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You. Psalm 119:9-11 NKJV
If
you have never taken the time to read Psalm 119 I would encourage you to do
so. The cry from the author reveals his
overwhelming desire to know God to the greatest extent possible. Since God has chosen His Word as a way to
reveal Himself to us, one of the overriding themes in this chapter is spending
time in the Word to learn, understand, and follow the commandments we have been
given. If our desire is to truly know
God in the way He has instructed us to, our first step should be to make
reading His Word the priority in our lives, and put the cares and concerns of
this world behind.
I will
meditate on Your precepts, And contemplate Your ways. I will delight myself
in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.
Psalm 119:15-16 NKJV
I
believe we can all relate to children, and even ourselves when we were young,
asking the question “why?” for a great many things. Have you ever spent the time thinking and
meditating on God’s Word wondering “why”? To understand someone is to know them
well enough to not be surprised when they say or do something that you readily
acknowledge is a result of their nature and who they really are. By meditating and contemplating on God’s
Word, we engage in the process of growing our understanding of Him and His
commandments with the end result being an answer to our question “why”.
But
Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather
than men. Acts 5:29 NKJV
The
decision and choice of the apostles to obey God first was a direct result of
knowing Him to a degree that many today do not.
The Bible is full of examples of people making this same decision once
they knew and understood God in the way He intends us to. Believers who truly know God never hesitate
to make this type of commitment in their lives and it will be, just like the
apostles, evident in how they live their lives and the choices they make. We all as believers have at some time
wondered what we should do in a particular instance, and spent time on our
knees asking God what He would have us to do.
I submit that the better we know and understand God, the easier it
becomes to answer those questions.
Not
that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to
be content: Philippians 4:11 NKJV
It
is my personal belief that the most obvious, if not important result of truly
knowing and understanding God is the ability to live just as Paul did when he
wrote these words. To be content no
matter what the circumstance reveals not only a true knowledge of God, but an
understanding that He is in control of every facet of our lives and as His
children, we have nothing to fear. I
have often wondered how different my life would have been if I had been able to
achieve this contentment in my youth.
The desire to control our own lives and make the choices which result in
achievement that the world values shows a disregard for the instruction we are
given over and over again in God’s Word that our priority should be to know
Him.
Oh,
continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You, And Your righteousness to
the upright in heart. Psalm 36:10 NKJV
Do
you truly know God, or just know about Him?
If you are reading these words and have never made the decision to ask
Jesus into your heart and begin an eternal relationship with the God of this
universe, I urge you to do it today. You
can do that by praying a prayer like this; Jesus
I know that I am a sinner, and have sinned against you. I believe you loved me enough to send your
Son Jesus to die for my sins, and that He rose from the dead so that I can
live. Forgive me of my sins and come
into my life and help me to live for you.
In Jesus’ name, Amen. If you
have done this, then your eternal destiny is life with Him and because He loved
us enough to do this for us, doesn’t it make sense to really get to know Him?
Keep
watching.
