Our Awesome God . . .

In human conversation, context is everything. “I love you” can be said as a warm response, or with a question mark, or in sarcasm, or even in hate. This is one reason reading the context of Scripture verses is important. This morning, I notice a couple of things from John 14:15–31:

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”

Loving Jesus is demonstrated in obedience, but to do that, the Helper (the Holy Spirit) is needed. The rest of the world might not see that need or that supply, but I know my helplessness and know that Jesus sent me a Helper. If the Holy Spirit did not dwell with me, there is no way I could express my love to Jesus.

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

Again, I experience God because Jesus kept this promise. There also is a vast distinction between those who know Him and those who do not. The Holy Spirit gives us insights that enables us to love our God and realize His presence.

Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.”

The presence of the Holy Spirit enables God’s people to obey, but also to realize the love of God and hear God speaking to us. Even those who know and experience this are in awe at what God has done and is doing.

“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here." (John 14:15–31)

Jesus has gone away. The world offers its tidbits, yet we have this yearning in our heart for Him. He knew we would, so He sent the Holy Spirit who reminds us of all Jesus promises — far more than the world can offer. Jesus says He will come back and even though He is not visible to the world, He is very real to us. He comes hand in hand with His Spirit and in obedience to the Father. I’m again in awe over what the Creator, this Almighty God, has done and is doing.

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Jesus, at times I’ve tried to separate the work of the Father, Son, and Spirit. This does not work. Forgive me, and help me think rightly about Your work as the God of gods, the Lord of lords, the One in whom my life depends.

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.

Experiencing Jesus

Writers are instructed to involve all five senses because this makes a story more vivid to readers. This morning’s devotional points out that those who wrote the Bible also used this literary technique. God inspired them to involve our senses and as they did, faith is vividly depicted.

While the Bible says we must walk by faith and not by sight (trusting what God says rather than what we can easily comprehend), we are also to use our eyes and each of our senses.

Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. (Isaiah 45:22, NKJV)

Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant . . .  (Isaiah 55:3)

The psalmist, speaking of Jesus, says, “You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness beyond your companions; your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia. . . ." (Psalm 45:7–8)

Other passages evoke more responses from our senses, such as “All Thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia” and, “Thy name is as ointment poured forth” and, “How sweet are thy words to my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my lips.”

Spurgeon says that the first response to God involves hearing. This is found in Romans 10:17: “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” While we need to hear the Word with the outward ear, it is not effective until it is also heard with our inward ear. That is, we need to hear and believe the Bible as God’s Word to us personally. This “hearing” of faith happens when the mind looks at the truth presented, understands and perceives its meaning, then “sees” that this is true — knowing that this is God speaking.

When this happens, believers begin to admire the Word of God. Through faith and obedience, the Holy Spirit uses it to “touch” our lives. We are encouraged to “taste” and “see” it more and more. 

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation — if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. (1 Peter 2:2–3)

As we apprehend the sweet preciousness of God, our entire body, soul and spirit are engaged in the enjoyment of knowing and walking with Him. 

As an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men. With great delight I sat in his shadow, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. (Song of Solomon 2:3)

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Lord,  I can hear great symphonies, enjoy the grandeur of all creation, draw deeply the fragrance of a thousand roses, taste the most elegant foods, and indulge in many sensual delights, yet nothing pleases my ears, or delights my eyes like You. No perfume smells so sweet, no food tastes so rich or is as satisfying as this relationship that I have with You. If I lived solely for good feelings, even the most pleasant pales in comparison to the joy that You give. I thank You for my senses and that I can experience You through them. However, my greater gratitude is for the astonishing gift of being able to experience You through grace by faith, regardless of what my senses are telling me.