Do You Know God?

Do you know God? Do I know God? Let’s each stop and personally ponder this question.

At my place of employment, I have the privilege of working with a group of brethren from my local congregation. We spend hundreds of hours together processing meat in a local butcher shop. Our conversations are many and varied. We have spent many an hour discussing matters of church, different passages of Scripture, as well as many subjects of daily life. Since we spend so much time together, we know each other quite well. I can predict, with reasonable accuracy, how various ones will respond to different situations. I also know what they believe about many, various subjects.

But how did I get there? It was not accidental. It comes from the many hours spent together. It comes from taking an interest in each other’s lives and what makes the other one tick. And a big part, maybe the one that sums all the others up, is that we care about and love each other.

As humans, we each have different levels of acquaintance with different people. There are some people we have only met a time or two, others we have had a number of conversations with, and some we may even know a lot about. But we don’t really know them. We don’t know their heart or understand what goes on deep down inside.

If we want to truly know someone else, we need to spend lots of time together. We need to share at a heart level. Only then will we know what they like or dislike, what pleases them, and what they can’t stand. We will enjoy being in each other’s presence. This is the kind of knowing that I am referring to in this article.

And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever –1Ch 28:9. 

This is David, near the end of his life, giving direction to his son Solomon close to the beginning of his reign as king. This is the David about whom God Himself said, …I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will –Act 13:22. This is the David who wrote all the wonderful Psalms of praise to God. In these Psalms, we get a glimpse into the heart of a man who truly knew, loved, and delighted in his God. This is the king who never lost a battle. This is the king who related in such a godly way to the unreasonable, tyrannical king Saul. These accounts still inspire us today.

Now, as David is handing the reins of the kingdom over to his son, this is the charge that he gives Solomon. I can almost hear the passion and the urgency in David’s voice, as well as the love and concern for his son. I can picture him saying, “Solomon, know my God! Know him the way I do. It’s not enough that I as your father knew Him—You must know him.”

Now let’s transfer this charge to us as young people. No, we are not receiving a kingdom, but very shortly we will be receiving, in a sense, the church of tomorrow. Most of us have Christian parents who know God, and I pray that we all have church leaders who know God. Still, the reality is, that very soon you and I are going to be parents and some of us will be leaders in the church. Do we know God? A church’s level of spirituality, her love and unity, and her light to the world will be determined by how well her members know God. If you and I do not know God, I’m afraid there isn’t much future for our churches. My dear young people, we must know God!

How do we know God? I believe that many of the same principles of our human relationships can apply to our relationship with God. Let me hasten to say that there is also a big difference in relating with God and relating with human beings. God is our Omnipotent, Omniscient Creator. He knows us even better than we know ourselves. There is absolutely nothing hidden from His sight.

Nonetheless, I was recently challenged by some of these thoughts on knowing God. To know God takes much time and effort. No deep relationship is formed overnight. Are we setting aside time each day to seek God through prayer and reading His Word?

I vividly remember the preciousness and excitement of getting to know God when I was a young believer. I would go out into the fields in the early morning and again in the evening and talk to God. There were many areas of my life that needed growth, and God became more and more real to me as I spent time with Him.

Little did I know then how much I would need God’s grace in the coming years, as some very dark valleys awaited me. If I had not gotten to know God in that way, I honestly doubt I would have made it. My relationship with God served as the anchor of my soul to weather the storms of life.

I don’t share this to lift myself up, but rather to say that the same experience is available to anyone who will make time for it. It will not happen by accident. You will need to make intentional choices to set aside time to seek God. David said One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His temple –Psa 27:4.

We all have that one thing that will take priority over all else in our lives. What is that one thing for you? What will you neglect other activities for? I would like to challenge us that, without making “knowing God” our one thing, we will not get to know Him.

What things are distracting us from seeking God? There are many things that distract young people of our day. For young men it can be their car or truck, or it can be hunting. For the young ladies it can be their dresses, or their shoes, or it can be decorating their surroundings. These are just some suggestions to start us thinking. What are some more things that we could allow to get in the way of knowing God as being our number one priority?

One big thing that I see in our world today is technology. I know from experience how distracting it can be. It can be hard to be focused on personal devotions while my phone is receiving notifications. Probably many of us could confess that with so much so readily available to us, it is a whole lot easier to spend an evening being involved with our technology than to spend that time with God. What is more important to us, technology or God?

I think it boils down to the question: What are our interests? You won’t get to know a person deeply unless you are interested in them and care about them. It is the same with God. If we are honest with ourselves, I think too often we simply do not have the passion to seek God. We don’t share the zeal that Paul expressed in Philippians 3, where he talks of the achievements he had made. But he considered it all to be nothing for the sole purpose and desire of knowing God. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, … That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; –Php 3:8-10. Do we share this same passion?

I am inspired how David poured out his heart to God in the Psalms. When he felt overwhelmed, he told God about it. When he was discouraged, afraid, or convicted, he told God about it. His Psalms are also full of praise to God for what He had done, and for that which He had promised to do.

Relationships require a mutual sharing of hearts. God has already shared His heart for us in the Bible and He will reveal Himself to us in a deeper way as we seek to know and to understand His heart. But are we also pouring our heart out to God? When we feel misunderstood, or think others have wronged us, what do we do and where do we go? When we are discouraged, to whom do we turn? When we go through grief, tragedy, or loss, whose comfort do we seek? There is nothing like experiencing the comfort of God when we go through dark valleys in our life.

Relationships require maintenance. Without spending time together on a regular basis, deep relationships cannot continue. Just because we had an encounter with God and may have gotten to know Him at one point in our life does not mean that we currently have a connection with Him. Jesus said, If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered… –Joh 15:6. If we do not make seeking God a daily part of our lives, our relationship with the Lord will wither away.

Now let’s ask some questions: “Where do early mornings find you? Are you up before your day begins, seeking God, giving that time of devotion to Him through Bible reading and prayer? Do you focus on knowing Him better each day with the goal of making Him known to a lost and dying world throughout your day? Or do you slumber and sleep through that precious opportunity? Were you up late the night before, partying with your friends or wasting your time on countless other things that have no eternal value, and therefore can’t rise in time to seek Him?”

I don’t believe that the morning is the only time a person can connect with God, but I do believe there is something precious about denying our flesh of that time when we would rather be in bed and devote it to seeking His face. It gives a wonderful platform for living the day for Him. I challenge you to make this a priority in your life. It may be hard to get started but persevere and soon your body will grow accustomed to rising early, and your spirit will blossom. Most of all, your life will become one that honors God and shines from that relationship with Him.

In the latter part of 1 Chronicles 28:9, David assures Solomon, If you seek Him, you will find Him. What a precious promise! There is guaranteed success to the soul that sets itself on seeking God!

People seek for countless things in this life. They may spend their entire lives seeking for riches, only to find that the happiness and fulfillment evades them when they reach their goal. They may seek fame and honor of men, only to find once they achieve their goal that it is an empty, lonely existence with no real friends. We could go on and on of all the things we human beings set our hearts to that don’t really exist or are unattainable. But here is something that is attainable—We can know God! But it won’t happen by accident, nor will it happen if you give it a halfhearted attempt.

I would like to briefly consider the life of Rehoboam, Solomon’s son and David’s grandson. Although Solomon did forsake the Lord at the end of his life, he still left an incredible kingdom to his son. With David as grandfather, and with all the promises that God had given Rehoboam was provided incredible potential. Not only that, but after the division of the northern tribes, the Bible tells us in 2 Chronicles 11:16 that all those who set their hearts to seek the Lord from the ten northern tribes resorted to Rehoboam. This man could have had an incredible kingdom!

He also seems to have had a fear of God, for in 2 Chronicles 11 and 12 we have two accounts of where he was confronted by a prophet, and he responded accordingly. Yet from the beginning we see him making an unwise choice of counselors. Later we see him forsaking the Lord and His Law after the kingdom was established in his hand. Finally, we see the shame that Judah was brought into, that of serving the king of Egypt as a result of forsaking God. Why all this? What was Rehoboam’s problem? Why couldn’t he make wise decisions? Here is the answer: And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the LORD –2Ch 12:14. 

What kind of decisions are characterizing your life? Are you making wise decisions that you will not be ashamed of in eternity? Or will you hang your head in shame at the foolishness of how you lived your life and the choices you made when you reach that great throne of judgment? Are you serving the king of Egypt (the world), living by what the world deems important, dressing like the world tells you to dress, listening to the kind of music the world listens to, having an attitude of casual indifference; or are you serving the King of Kings and His Kingdom?

Noah and Enoch were two men whose relationship with God was so intimate that the Bible says that they ‘walked with God’. At another place, the Bible also asks the rhetorical question, how can two walk together except they be agreed? Obviously, these two men sought God, and they were agreed with Him. They thought about things the way God did. The burdens of their hearts were in tune with the burdens of God’s heart. They saw the world and the things in the world the way God saw them. But it didn’t just happen; these men spent time with God intentionally.

So, whose example are you following? When your life has been lived, and you have passed on to eternity, what will the epitaph of your life be? Will the commentary be that you walked with God? Or will the sad truth be told that you did evil, because you didn’t prepare your heart to seek God?

We will not always have the opportunity to seek God. Someday, our lives will be over.

So, again I ask… Do you know God? Do I know God? Do we really know God? Are we close enough to God to hear His heartbeat, to see things like God sees them, to know what pleases Him and what displeases Him? Is His presence your joy, and the absence thereof your sorrow? If not, when are you going to change? The opportunity to seek God is a limited time offer.

Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Isaiah 55:6