Knowing God

"The width of our knowledge about [God] is no gauge of the depth of our knowledge of Him." ~ J.I. Packer, Knowing God Through the Year

Packer makes a great point here. Knowledge of God is vitally important (and Packer is not denying this at all) because without it we cannot love God with all our minds (Mark 12:30). We cannot truly worship God if we do not know Him and the glory of His perfections. However, having pure knowledge about God is not knowing Him. If we do not love God with all our hearts and souls (Mark 12:30) we do not really know Him. We can have every commentary and systematic theology book memorized, but if that mental knowledge does not take root deep in the heart then we do not truly know Him.

God interacted with humanity in a very personal way. The second Person in the Trinity, the very Image of the Father, condescended to personally deal with us, struggle with us, and struggle for us. How much more personal can the invitation be? The God who has dealt so personally with us cannot be truly known by raw data but must also be dealt with personally as He opens up to us and as He opens us up to Himself. Our dealings with Him should be as our dealings with any other person we want to know well. I can know many facts about my wife, there are some who may know as many facts as I do, but I believe I can confidently say few (if any) have the depth of knowledge of her that I do because I live with her, interact with her throughout the day, glory with her, and struggle with her (the reverse is also of course true).

May we pray as Augustine prayed in Confessions, "Let me know Thee, O my Knower; let me know Thee as I am known."

By His Grace,
Taylor