Want to know God?

Paint Rock Baptist Church 

Do you want to “know God” or better still do you want “God to know you?” God knows all about us; however, there is a level of knowledge (a relationship) He calls “knowing us.” The same holds true for humans. Knowing about God is not the same as knowing Him. When God speaks of knowing, He means an intimate relationship where both parties have intimate knowledge of one another.

There are a number of Scriptures where God states “I never knew you,” such as Matthew 7:23. Just a few verses before this (v. 21) Jesus says that His followers “do the will of God” and a few verses later (v. 24) He says those that “hear and do His word” are wise. 

To understand how to “know God” in the manner God requires, we can look at Samuel. The Bible says that the sons of Eli, who were serving as priests, did not “know God” and the Word of God was rare in that day. A few verses later (1 Sam. 3:3–10) God called out to Samuel. Samuel’s response is “key to knowing God.” In verse 10, Samuel responded, “Speak Lord Your servant listens.” The three key words in this short phrase are “Lord,” “Servant” and “listen.” 1) Samuel acknowledged God as Lord, 2) Samuel committed himself as a servant to the Lord and 3) as a committed servant, Samuel listened and obeyed God’s instructions.

An example of acknowledging God is worshipping Him for who He is as seen in Revelation 4:11, “Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things.” Also Samuel acknowledges himself as a servant which might best be demonstrated by Paul’s statement of himself being “a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ.” (Titus1:1). The third part of Samuel’s commitment was to “listen” and can be seen in John’s challenge to us in 1 John 2:4 to keep His commandments. We must therefore examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith. Those who pass the test know Him and are known by Him.