That all will know that He is Lord…

Reading through the Bible this year has me in Ezekiel. As the Lord expresses His wrath against the disobedience of His people, He often repeats that the judgments coming upon them will convince them, and the world around them, that He is the Lord.

As I read this, I feel somewhat dismayed. I pray for loved ones and want them to realize who God is and that He is Lord. I don’t want that to happen because He is angry against their sin and going to send disaster into their lives like He did with Israel. However, today’s devotional reading jumps ahead of where I have been reading and offers this encouragement.

Thus says the Lord God: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. And they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it. Thus says the Lord God: This also I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: to increase their people like a flock. Like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord. (Ezekiel 36:33–38)

I know this part of the Bible is about Israel, not about my family and friends, yet it also describes the character and ways of God. He is angry against sin, but He also knows that without His cleansing, we are helpless to change our ways. He offers salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, a salvation that includes forgiveness, cleansing and a changed life. This applies to every person and in every timeframe. That in itself is wonderful!

Yet there is more. These verses describe what He will do for His ancient people — once their lives are cleansed. He will add to them. All the wasted places will be restored and useful. That which was ruined because of sin will be built up and restored. He will answer prayer. Most of all, both His people and the nations around them will know that He is the Lord. Since God never changes, He can do the same in answer to my prayers.

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Lord, this is my prayer for family and friends; that they know You are the Lord. I trust You to reveal Yourself to them in the best possible way. I know that revelation could come through trouble and judgment for their sin, but I also know that it could be done through Your sovereign work of salvation, to cleanse them from sin and open their eyes to the reality of You. Because You have saved and cleansed me, I am depending on You for this request, that You would increase the numbers of those who believe in You, and that because of what You have done, they and the people around them will know that You are the Lord.

Seeing Jesus is not about my eyesight

In Bible times, some Greeks came to Philip and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” (John 12:20–21) The Scripture does not say whether they ever did, but in those days, seeing Jesus was a bit more complicated than we might think. He could be standing in front of a person and that person might not know who they were looking at.

While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him . . . . When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. (Luke 24:15-16; 30-31)

This has significance for those who are not part of the family of God. I want others to know Jesus, but realize that all my talking, and even any demonstrations of His great love and grace depend on the power of the One who can close or open eyes, not on what I do. This is humbling.

Besides that, He knows the hearts of those who cannot see. These Greeks may have been honest seekers of the God who forgives sins and changes lives. They also may have been thrill seekers or name-droppers who wanted to go home and tell their families who they ran into in the marketplace while they were in Jerusalem. Jesus reveals Himself to those ready to see, not to the mildly curious or those with frivolous motivations.

There is significance in this for me too. As today’s devotional reading says, Jesus is often present in my life in ways of which I am not aware. I might be praying for Him to do some great thing and cannot see any results. It seems as if He has not heard me. For weeks and months and years I might not see Him doing anything.

Then He suddenly is there, showing Himself and His hand in that prayer request through unexpected ways. Actually, He often keeps me from seeing what He is doing until He is at the finish line with it. Then I realize, like the two disciples above, that He was walking by my side in that thing all along, or at least long before I suspected He was involved.

Of course, I wonder why He does this appearing and disappearing. The only reason that makes sense is that He wants me to walk by faith, not by sight. Trusting Him is about believing what I cannot see. As soon as I can see, then I focus on the results or the method or the thrill of answered prayer, instead of continuing to put my faith in Him. He is the One who promised to never leave me or forsake me, whether I can see Him and what He is doing — or not. 

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Lord, walking with You is not about my ability to see, but about Your ability to reveal. Will I trust You no matter what my eyes are doing? Will I keep moving along the path, assured of Your presence even when the path is dark and unmarked? Will I keep my focus on You even in the tension between knowing for sure and not seeing or knowing for sure? I’m glad that You open eyes, and that You always know what I need to see — and when I need to see You. Keep my focus on You, whether I can see You or not.

Pressing on to know God

Known to be an “information gatherer” I love it when people ask me to look up something for them. Search engines are my friend. My Logos 4 Bible program with its incredible search features allow me to look up topics from more than a thousand resources. Gathering data and doing research could occupy my entire day if I didn’t have other responsibilities. 
 

With that mindset, when I became a Christian, I wanted to know everything about God. I read the Bible cover to cover many times, and filled stacks of notebooks with devotional and study thoughts. However, I’ve learned something during these years; knowing facts about God is not the same as knowing God.

Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth. (Hosea 6:3)

I’ve met a few famous people, shook their hand or ate at the same table. But do I know them? Hardly. Knowing someone involves spending time with them, but it also involves their willingness to open up themselves to me. I might observe a well-known author eat steak and refuse garlic toast, but unless he tells me he is a celiac, I only know what I observe. Unless he says how much he misses eating bread, I will not know anything about this person’s particular desires and struggles.

Knowing God is a bit like that, except that God is not like us. The attitudes of His great heart are pure and filled with love for His people. He sacrificed His Son that we might have eternal life. He works both in the background and in the foreground to shower blessings on us. He takes care of our needs, forgives our sins, heals our diseases, bidding us to walk and talk with Him. Yet God is a mystery, a Spirit that we cannot see or touch. How can we really know Him?

I’ve learned that God does not do anything to make Himself known to those who are not interested. As Hosea says, He wants His people to press on to know Him, make an effort, make ourselves open to Him. Since He is Spirit and communicates to us through His Book and His Spirit, how then can this be a two-way relationship?

Part of pressing on to know God is being open to what others have discovered in their pursuit to know Him. Books like The Pleasures of God by John Piper and The Existence and Attributes of God by Stephen Charnock and a score of others have given me insights into this God that I serve, insights that these men gleaned through their experience of Him. This then is key to truly knowing Him; through our experiences with Him. 

When I was a new Christian, I had a bill that had to be paid and no money. The Bible says that God will take care of our needs, so I prayed. God supplied money to pay that bill in a totally unexpected way. From that point until today, I’ve never doubted that God will supply all my needs. The Bible says that He will, and I thought that He would when I prayed, but from my experience with Him, I really know it.

Every attribute of God is described in His Word. I believe Him when He says He knows the number of hairs on my head, yet when every day He directs me to exactly what I need to read or know or remember about Him for that day, then I know that He is deeply interested in the details of my life.

The Bible says Christians are to walk by faith, not by sight. That is true. We do not ask God to prove that He cares by doing this or that. We believe that He cares, and when we believe and press on to know Him, He shows His care in lovely and unexpected ways. He reveals the unseen truth so that we might know Him better. As we walk and talk with Him, He opens His heart to us.

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Lord, I was going to go on a rant today about a certain cult that thinks it is Satan who answers the prayers of Christians, but You remind me that this is not about my smarts and their stupidity. It is about truly knowing You, something that is impossible to those without faith. Even as I wrote that sentence, I remember that my faith is also a gift from You, given by grace to sinners such as I. Without You, what would I know or think about spiritual things? I would be no wiser than anyone else.

You are an amazing God, full of mercy and kindness, able to take care of every need. As I press on to know You, You continually make Yourself known to me. This is a mystery, and amazing, and I am totally grateful that You allow Yourself to be known.

Knowing Jesus

After thirty-five years of being a child of God, I sometimes struggle with trying to remember what life was like before that. I want to understand the perspective of those who have no idea about Jesus or what He has done for them. For me, He is so familiar and entirely involved in everything I do that I can’t imagine how I thought or lived those thirty years prior to when I did not know Him.

When Jesus encountered a Samaritan woman at a well, He was tired and thirsty. She came to fetch water so He asked her for a drink. She was startled. Jewish men did not speak to women in public, never mind a Samaritan. Also, anyone viewed as a rabbi or religious leader would never speak with a woman who had a bad reputation, which she had.

Jesus paid no attention to these social norms and prejudices. He knew this woman had a spiritual need so He began a conversation. When she asked Him why He was talking to her because “Jews have no dealings with Samaritans,” He replied, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water” (John 4:10).

She didn’t know what He was talking about and she had no idea who He was. Even though news was rapidly spreading about this man, the Samaritans were out of the loop. No Jew would tell them, never mind her, about Jesus and His power to change lives.

This story intrigues me because of what Jesus did about her ignorance. He didn’t tell the disciples to witness to her, and He didn’t send a missionary to her town. Instead, He talked to her Himself and in that conversation revealed His identity to her. After He did that, she left her water pot and went into the city to share what she now knew.

I relate to this woman, not because I’d had six husbands like she did, but because Jesus revealed Himself to me too. Others had told me things about Christianity, maybe that I should attend church or do this or that, but I don’t recall anyone telling me that He is God in human flesh who came to earth to die for my sins. I guess if I heard it, it didn’t sink in.

When Jesus came into my life, He revealed Himself to me and I knew instantly who He is and what He had done. That revelation had such an impact on my life that I cannot go back and accurately remember not knowing.

Instead of trying to do that so I can better understand those who don’t know Jesus, I should concentrate more on what this woman did. She told her countrymen, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” (Verse 29)

They came. They saw Him for themselves, and “many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified.” Others said, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.” (Verse 42)

Christ’s role is speaking to sinners and revealing His identity to them. My role is not so much to relate to anyone’s lack of understanding about Him as it is to simply point those who don’t know in His direction. He will do the rest.