Knowing God

Last night with the men wrecked me. We have our normal men's gathering Wednesday nights, however the meeting didn't go normal for me as I am troubled... in a good way.

Not sure at the moment if my thoughts are heretical, but I must share them.

I posed the question on the blog yesterday, Do you or I really know God?

I considered Moses and the apostles. They didn't have all of the Scriptures we have today. No... they knew God well enough to write them.

Would you or I know Him enough to write parts of the New Testament? The Law? The Psalms?

It seems we in academia USA try to understand the whole of Scripture, and that equates somehow to knowing God or spirituality at times. Unfortunately, equating closeness to God with knowledge of Scripture falls apart when you consider those who can't read or write, yet walk with God and lay down their lives for Him, specifically in persecuted nations. Somehow they live close with God, yet have never read the Bible. We also know those who can argue the Scriptures, showing knowledge, yet aren't actively living for Him.

Knowledge of His Word does not equal knowing Him.

Some might say we do not need the Holy Spirit (who is God) today. We have the Word, right? Who needs God Himself? What we overlook is that the forefathers knew God well enough to write the Book. They walked with Him.

The problem I see is when we replace knowing God with knowing His Word.


We subconsciously think, "we have the Scriptures, so who needs God?" I'd say it's a good thing God didn't add more to the canon of Scripture as it would have given us greater reason to NOT go to God Himself!

Ohhh, but the fathers and mothers of they faith knew more. They knew God. They walked with God. So much so that they could pen His very words inspired for us today.

If we merely end the journey at understanding His Word, we fall short. As much as we must know and understand His written Word, we still fall short. We must allow His Word to direct us and lead us to Him, to walking with Him.

That I may know God...

Do you know Him?

Had a great time with other men from The Chapel tonight. Many thoughts are stirring, but here's one simple question for us tonight...

Do you know God? Do I?

Before you answer, consider...

Moses didn't have the new testament or the prophets. He didn't have the law. He knew God well enough to WRITE the law.

Consider the apostles. They didn't have the new testament. They had the law and the prophets and the commands of Christ having walked with Him. And, THEY HAD GOD, the Holy Spirit, given at Pentacost. With that, they had enough to merely write the New Testament we hold to.

I'm afraid that in our day, instead of the writings of Moses, the prophets, the apostles spurring us to know God more, even in greater measure than they, we have exchanged knowing God for memorization and knowledge of the very words that the heroes of the faith WALKED with God to get.

See, the forefathers knew God, and wrote through inspiration, through knowing Him. If we only then use their writings as an end in of themself and not as an invitation to know that same God, then we have missed it.

We know of Him, but do we KNOW HIM?

So I ask again: Do you and I really KNOW God? Really?