In order to become godly, we have to know God. Wagner believed that is a three-step process. This daily devotional looks at the step of knowing God through seeking Him.
Nuggets
- Knowing God is more than just thinking there is some Power Who created this universe.
- We are to understand; but knowing God does not mean we will be able to understand everything.
- We begin to know God when we diligently pursue knowing Him and doing His Will.
Devotions in the Approach to Knowing God series
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a simple process to becoming godly? Bing, bang, boom — we have achieved transformation!
Wagner seems to think it is that easy. He wrote, “The first [step in the process] requires the exercise of the understanding; the second, the surrender of the will; the third, purity of heart.” What he is saying here is that we need to know God’s character, we have to reconcile with Him, and we have to remain in communion with Him.
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Ooo, baby. Maybe that isn’t so easy after all. Let’s dig into the first step: knowing and understanding God.
Let's Put It into Context
Godliness, equated with the Old Testament term fear of the Lord, is an attitude of reverence that is promoted by walking in His Spirit and obeying God’s laws and commandments and produces a moral likeness of God.
Knowing God Is More than Just Being Acquainted with Him
“And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (Jn. 17: 3 ESV)
Knowing God is more than just thinking there is some Power Who created this universe.
There are different theories as to how this world was created. The how part doesn’t really matter.
The most important part of knowing is the Who part. The Sovereign God created the universe and all that is within it.
Head knowledge of that alone isn’t going to help us in our knowing God to become godly. We aren’t supposed to stress on what kind of a Being God is.
Instead, we are to strive for spiritual excellence. Thomas described this as “… ‘the fear of the Lord’ and the ‘knowledge of God.’”
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We have to have spiritual knowledge of God. Richmond explained that as having “… a competent knowledge of His nature, His attributes, and His will.”
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What? You don’t think we can know God because He isn’t here? Think again.
- “This also comes from the Lord of hosts; he is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom” (Isa. 28: 29 ESV).
- “Behold, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him? Who has prescribed for him his way, or who can say, ‘You have done wrong’?” (Job 36: 22-23 ESV).
- “The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times” (Ps. 12: 6 ESV)
- “There is none holy like the Lord; there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God” ( I Sam. 2: 2 ESV).
- “Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him” (Isa. 30: 18 ESV).
- “If we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself” (II Tim. 2: 13 ESV)
- “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations” (Deut. 7: 9 ESV).
- “And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth” (Ex. 34: 6 KJV).
- “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved” (Eph. 2: 4-5 ESV).
- “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4: 19 ESV).
- “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness” (Rom. 1: 18 NIV)
- “Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me” (Ex. 19: 5 NLT).
Can it get much plainer than that? Contact me if you need more explanation.
That being said, we have to realize that Scriptures are only a snapshot of Who God is. It is an introductory course.
As we navigate the Sanctification Road, God will reveal Himself to us more fully. We will truly know Him as He is.
Glossary
We can’t begin to really know God until we have repented. Repentance is acknowledging our separation from God and expressing sorrow for breaking God’s laws and commandments by making the commitment to changing ourselves through obedience so that we no longer do the wrong things.
It is through this repentance that we gain access to God. We can’t really know God until we can approach Him.
Glossary
Knowing God Is More than Understanding Him
“Making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God” (Prov. 2: 2-5 ESV)
We are to understand; but knowing God does not mean we will be able to understand everything.
Look what Thomas said. He wrote, “Godliness has to do with both the intellect and the heart. It is knowledge and fear.”
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To me, that means we are to understand up to a point. However, we don’t have to use our intelligence to figure everything out. There are things we will just have to accept in our heart through faith.
Both components are necessary for salvation. Salvation is deliverance from evil and the consequences of sins to replace them with good and eternal life.
We have to understand enough in order to get to the point we realize that we don’t need to understand it all.
Knowing God Is Seeking Him
“I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me” (Prov. 8: 17; ESV)
We begin to know God when we diligently pursue knowing Him and doing His Will.
God calls us to salvation. We can’t wake up one day, knock on God’s door, and say, “Save us.” Only He can call us to salvation through the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
Yet, God wants us to take the initiative and seek Him after salvation. He does not force us to grow in grace and knowledge (II Pet. 3: 18).
We cannot, however, gloss over the fact that seeking Him is a command. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Mt. 7: 7 ESV).
It doesn’t say seek when we feel like it. It doesn’t say seek when we have everything figured out.
It says seek to find knowledge of God. Seek to find Him.
I wonder if we are to take the initiative in seeking God so that our hearts would be more receptive. Arnot wrote, “The Word of God is a vital seed, but it will not germinate unless it be hidden in a softened, receptive heart.”
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Our hearts will only be softened and receptive when it is our choice to seek God.
We seek God by searching His Word. That gives us wisdom. It has to impact our minds and our lives and become our source of life.
Why is it our source of life? Because it shows us God, Who is the Author and Sustainer of life.
Making the Connections
“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere” (Jas. 3: 17 ESV)
So, knowing God is more than just being acquainted with Him or understanding Him. It is seeking Him.
We are seeking the wisdom. The definition of wisdom we have been using is that it is an internal disposition that leads to knowledge, discernment, and good sense that is put into practice through salvation, increasing our goodness and virtue.
Hambleton had a different take. He wrote that Christ, in the spirit of wisdom, “… must have had a perfect comprehension of God in His nature, qualities, attributes, works, and Ways; He must have had a thorough understanding of the only method by which wretched man could be saved …”
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That means if we are going to have wisdom, we need to comprehend God. It is what we should be shooting for, anyway.
One day we will be like Christ – and have perfect comprehension of God’s “… nature, qualities, attributes, works, and Ways …”
How Do We Apply This?
In order to know God, we have to seek Him.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
Being entrenched in God Word will help us when we encounter temptation. We want to make sure we don’t give into the temptation. If we get more entrenched in our sinful nature, it is harder to know God.
Father God. We want to know You. We want to know Your nature because it is ours, also. We want to possess the qualities that are Yours. We want to know Your attributes, because that will mean we know You. We want to perform the works You have for us. We want to always walk in Your ways. Amen.
What do you think?
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