Knowing God...

Started reading a book by JI Packer the other day and it got me to thinking about some of the questions he raises in the first chapter. Let me sum up some of his ideas here and then propose a question to you....

Can anyone truly say that they have “known God”? Knowing God is not the same as sharing your testimony or having some experience of God.

Paul says that he never thinks of the things he has missed but what he has gained. (Philippians 3:7-10) When Paul says he counts the things he lost as dung he means not merely that he does not think of them as having any value but that he does not live with them constantly on his mind. What normal person spends his time nostalgically dreaming of manure? When we do think fondly of our manure, we prove we have little of the knowledge of God.

We may have all kinds of theological truth about God but the evidence of the joy of knowing Him seems largely missing in theological circles. Whereas circles that are less theologically proficient often exude the joy that is synonymous with knowing Him. A little knowledge of God is worth more than a great deal of knowledge about Him.

Let me make this point a little clearer:

1- One can know a great deal about God without much knowledge of Him.

We may have a great interest into the study of God called theology. The deeper we dig the more we begin to reach conclusions about who He is and what He does. This gains us notoriety among men for our educated opinions. But, the capacity to think clearly and talk well on Christian themes is not at all the same thing as knowing Him.

2- One may know a great deal about godliness without much knowledge of God.

There is no shortage of analytical, and technical resource explaining the various views of Christian living. The bookstores, sermon archives, and pulpits aroud the world are full of all the various “how-to-s” of Christianity. You may gain a reputation for being quite the pastor by giving “how-to” answers. Yet one can have all this and hardly know God at all.

James goes on to say that even the demons believe in God. They fear Him and tremble in His presence. Surely we do not know God in the same way that demons do.

So my question to you is......How can you know God beyond a theological, analytical, philosophical, and moral knowledge of Him?