The God I Know – Chapter 4

I know that God exists, so what about Him do I know?  How much do I know about Him, or better yet, how much can know about him?  In this next section of Chapter 4, Grudem continues to talk about the Knowability of God.

The Bible is God’s Words and is true and without error, so everything it tells about God is true and without error.  This we know.  The things the Bible say about God’s love, power, and wisdom is what we can know for sure, but what we also know from Scripture is we can never know all there is to know about them. David writes about these facts – “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.” (Psalm 145:3), “Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.” (Psalm 147:5), “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it.” (Psalm 139:6).

Personal Reflection:  I’m now just barely scratching the surface of the Bible and beginning to understand these various doctrines.  I may at some point get frustrated because I will not or cannot know everything.  It’s already been said that Bible leaves certain things a mystery and that God chose some things to be a “secret” from us.  While this can be a source of frustration, I realize how it can also be a source of hope.  Grudem points out Paul’s rejoices after explaining the same idea to the gentiles in Roman 11:33.  This verse reminds that I too should be in awe and wonder in God’s wisdom, power and love.  It wouldn’t be such a marvelous thing if it were something that I could fully comprehend.  I think it’s part of our sinful nature to reject something we can not understand and I its a struggle every day to accept God and His will.

It’s one thing to know that God exists or to know of him.  But it’s quite another to say I know God. Here Grudem distinguishes the difference between fact knowledge and intimate knowledge (my terms not Grudem’s).  For example, it’s one thing for me to say I know about the President of the United States, like his age, his height, his family, or even his politics – the facts.  But for me to say I know Barack would be to imply much more.  While we can’t know everything about God, we’re can have a relationship with God.  In several passages in the Bible, the term “know You”, “know Him”, “know the Father”, etc, are used to imply we can and encouraged to have a relationship and know God.

Personal Reflection: This past week my discussion with Josh led us into how we share the Gospel.  The topic of “faith by hearing” prompted the conversation.  So often I think of sharing the Gospel or the idea of evangelizing like this great big presentation I have to make.  It’s no wonder that I’m stricken with anxiety whenever I think of it or when the opportunity presents itself.  I feel like I’m constantly trying to formalize or even formulate a deliver of the Good News.  It’s as if I’m trying to develop or remember a checklist.  I can get so hung up on trying to awe and woo people with an amazing story that I almost often fumble the opportunity or just fail to take it.  This point that Grudem makes about knowing God goes directly to what Josh shared with me.  Sometimes, the best testimony is one that simply talks about a relationship.  Josh said someone once explained it to him this way.  Think about when you talk about your family with other people.  Think about when you pull out that picture of your kid from your wallet.  We hardly ever stop at sharing their age, rather we continue to share about some more intimate things like, “He’s so funny… he said this to me last week.”  If I’m living by faith, if I am accepting Christ every day, then I would not only believe I have this relationship, but I will know I have this relationship and it would become just as real as the relationship I have with my wife and kids.  And so if I’m really sharing my faith with other, it should sound more like this than just a “fact-sheet” about God.

Prayer:  “Lord Jesus, help today and the days to come to actively die to myself.  Lord I’ve been the knowledge that I’m dead to sin and alive with you.  Help me live out that knowledge every day so that I would be right with you and your Spirit be with me.”