Is Knowing God Possible?

Have you ever made the mistake of not knowing someone after you met them?

Recently I met with a few people to discuss an upcoming event. I knew only one person of the four and proceeded to introduce myself to the others. I didn’t recognize one of the women as she had changed her appearance since I’d last seen her. I introduced myself to her as if I had never met her, but she said, “Oh we’ve met. I’m ________.”

I felt embarrassed to approach someone with whom I had previous conversation as a stranger! We had even had coffee together once.

Sometimes we can approach God the same way. We don’t even recognize Him or how He is at work around us. We can be over-familiar with Him or He can be unrecognizable in our eyes.

There is a difference between knowing about someone and knowing them personally. It’s the difference of reading a short bio about someone and talking with the person to know their personality. If I knew the above mentioned woman personally, I wouldn’t have made the embarrassing mistake.

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. ~ A.W. Tozer

How do we get to know God?

The Bible teaches us much about knowing God’s character.

We can gain information about God through reading His Word and listening to messages.  This type on “head knowledge” is helpful to learn facts, but there is no life transformation if it doesn’t transfer to “heart knowledge.”

We can know God through not only reading His Word but by believing what the Word says about Him. As we grow our relationship with God, we know Him more intimately. What we believe about God’s character is what we believe about God.

How can we turn our knowledge about God into knowledge of God? The rule for doing this is simple but demanding. It is that we turn each Truth that we learn about God into matter for meditation before God, leading to prayer and praise to God. ~ J.I. Packer, Knowing God

In a simple exercise, I wrote down different alphabetical attributes of God using the statement, God is _________________.

Approachable. Believable. Constant. Dependable. Everlasting. Faithful. Good. Holy. I Am.

Jehovah. Kind. Light. Mighty. New. Omniscient. Powerful. Quiet. Redeemer.Shepherd.

Trustworthy. Understanding. Victorious. Wise. eXcellent. the same Yesterday, today and forever. Zealous.

By the time I finished my list, my heart was full of praise for knowing such a comprehensive God and thankful that He chooses to let us know Him!

This verse comes to mind in a prayer of praise:

Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power
    and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
    for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, Lord, is the kingdom;
    you are exalted as head over all. 1 Chronicles 29:11 NIV

Knowing God leads to praising Him.

Would try the same exercise of writing down attributes of God? What other words can you add?