"Acquaint Now Thyself With Him"

Why know God?  To know Him is to love Him.  When studying Him we are drawn to emulate Him and reflect His nature in our lives as a testimony that we know Him.  Plato said, "If I want to know how to live in reality, I must know what God is really like."  A. W. Tozer said, "What we believe about God is the most important thing about us."

"And this is eternal life, that they may know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent"  (John 17:3, ESV).

"But the people who know their God, shall be strong and do exploits"  (Daniel 11:32, KJV).

"For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings"  (Hosea 6:6, ESV).

"... There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land"  (Hosea 4:1, ESV).

Title ("... and be at peace") taken from Job 22:21.  We need to turn our knowledge about God into an active, working knowledge of Him.  How do we accomplish this as we study God and are led to God? God blows us away and boggles our minds as our wits our expanded to new dimensions of thought. God truly is the greatest thought we can have and we are meant to study and worship Him.  God-study is an exercise in mental gymnastics. We apply our knowledge by doing good deeds ("... doing good works and increasing in the knowledge of God," says Col. 1:10);  praying and meditating, which is just focused thought or thought with a purpose instead of random and aimless daydreaming or drifting. We best make use of our knowledge by the unnatural act of worship and this can only be done in the Spirit to please God ("God is Spirit, and seeks those who worship Him in Spirit and in truth," according to John 4:24).  Our ultimate goal should be to see that God is indeed worthy of our trust, obedience, and worship.   Don't be content just to be theologically correct or orthodox, but practice orthopraxy or right behavior and know God and demonstrate it in your life---what is the gospel according to you?

Without God in the picture of life, life makes no sense and "if we are considered without reference to God we become a useless passion," according to Jean-Paul Sartre.  Without God in the equation, or having a secular worldview or belief system, everything becomes relevant and there is no absolute truth--what standard can you rely on or refer to?  Many people are practical atheists, that is, they claim adherence to a faith, but they live contrary to it or ignore God in their life.  Psalm 10:4 says they have no place for God in their thoughts.   We cannot know how to live without absolutes of right and wrong and we need God to show us the way:  "If we knew what God is like, we would know how to live," said Plato.

God is a personal God and is obviously a person, not a blind, aimless, or purposeless force or influence.  He is no impersonal force and doesn't have a "dark side" as in Star Wars.  Satan is not the counterpart of God, but only a fallen angel who at one time was (per Ezek. 28) "full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty."  We have to first acknowledge how little we know of God and that we need His guidance and illumination to know Him.  But it is not that we know Him, that saves us, but that He knows us (cf. Gal. 4:9).  There is a consequence of not knowing Him (to believe in Jesus is to know Him at sufficient level): "In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God..."  (2 Thess. 1:8).  Romans 1 reveals what man is like when he leaves God out of the reckoning.

And so, what is God like?  He is multifaceted like a diamond!  Can we describe Him? Thales the ancient Greek philosopher couldn't come up with a definition, but the Greeks eventually concluded that God must be immaterial, immutable, and eternal and as such is the only necessary being or thing in existence. Being eternal means He has no cause and is, therefore, the first or primary cause and unmoved mover of the cosmos.  We describe God in terms of His eminence, affirmation, and negation.  His holiness or purity regulates all the other attributes and His moral purity is unequaled. There are communicable and incommunicable attributes--for instance, only God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent.  God is perfect:  "He cannot change for the better, for he is already perfect; and being perfect, he cannot change for the worse"  (A. W. Pink)  God so perfect he needs no repentance--i.e., His nature never changes, though He does relent per a change in circumstance (e.g., Jonah's prediction of the destruction of Nineveh).

Luther told Erasmus that his thoughts of God were too human:  He put Him in a box.  We put God in a box when we describe him as the man upstairs, father time, cosmic killjoy, mean judge, doting or permissive grandfather, or spirit in the sky, without reference to His other attributes.  ("O, I like to think of God just as my Father.")  God is infinite and cannot be defined adequately to our satisfaction. We will be studying Him forever.  His glory, majesty, sovereignty, and Trinity are incomprehensible to us and God has to speak to us in baby talk or lisping to relate to us. J. B. Phillips wrote a book Your God Is Too Small; consequently, our comprehension of God affects our actions.  God is the incomprehensible one and His nature has profundity--we can never analyze Him, peg Him, nor figure Him out--"Canst thou by searching find out God?" says Job 11:7.  All we need to know about God's nature is given in the person of Christ, who is the incarnation of God and the perfect God-man, or perfect God, perfect man, very God of very God, and very man of very man--fully God, fully man.

God wants to authenticate Himself to you and is no man's debtor; any honest seeker will find Him. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. "Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!"  (Psalm 34:8a, ESV).  The person who knows God has experienced Him personally and the Spirit bears witness with His Spirit that he is a child of God.  God has made Himself known through the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the God-man, who is the personification of everything God wants us to know of Himself.  His unprecedented conduct, unparalleled claims, unique character, and unequaled credentials (as one scholar points out) prove that He is the living and the one and only-begotten Son of God made flesh on our behalf.  Everything we need to know of God is revealed in the second person of the Godhead, who is Jesus, the icon or image of God.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Where's Your Faith, Peter?

Peter saw Jesus walking on the water but doubted it was Him, even after Jesus announced:  "I AM." Jesus reaffirmed His identity but Peter wanted to put Him to the test and see if he could walk on water as evidence.  Now, it is easy to look at Peter's weaknesses, but often he stood as the spokesman of the group or the point man.  He showed that he wasn't afraid of an apparition or ghost, as the others did and took up Jesus at His challenge to "come" to Him on the water.  Peter did step out, which proves he took the leap of faith that is required for salvation, no matter how weak our faith, we need to step out!  Peter knew this was no great challenge to the Lord and showed great faith in even venturing out, though he did falter.

When Peter walked on water he didn't debate the pros and cons of obeying the Lord or the consequences of his act of faith, he just did it.  It is the same with us, just do it!  God will give you the faith if you step out keeping your eyes on Him.  Peter knew nothing of Newton's laws of gravitation and even though he had no idea of its formulation he knew that water couldn't hold him up and that something was supernatural in his act of walking on water.  In correspondence to our walk, God asks us to step out unto the water and storms of life in faith and to "walk on water," as it were, or do the impossible.  With God all things are possible and we know the one who made the rules and can suspend them at will or overrule them according to His will and plan.  If we are walking with Christ we are able to walk on water and do whatever God requires of us, no matter how unrealistic it seems to us at the time, because God makes all things beautiful in His time.

When we have faith in God's power, He can work His power in us and there is no such thing as a small task to ask God to do or a small favor, because they are all small to Him, because He is so big. Peter did take a few successful steps into the unknown in spite of the storm and waves on the lake, but he failed to follow through on his faith.  Hebrews 12:1 exhorts us to keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith-- this is where he failed and we need to learn a lesson.  The moment Peter took his eyes off the Lord he began to sink. He focused on the circumstances and not on the power of God and His providence and care.  When we get sidetracked by the cares of this world we can't walk toward Jesus as our goal to come to Him in faith.

This story is analogous to our salvation experience when we first experience God.  Isaiah 45:22 exhorts us:  "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth...."  Hebrews 2:9 says:  "But we see Him...."  Jesus bids us come to Him! He is the great  Pursuer of our souls. Even if we start to sink Jesus will lend His hand to rescue us so that we won't utterly drown in the evils of the world and our flesh once we have made the decision to come to Him in faith.  Just like in the story Jesus is coming after us as He foresees our predicament and destiny. We don't have to know all the rules of engagement to come to Him, but just know that it is Him who is calling us and putting our faith in Him, not in our ability to adjust or cope with the call. In other words, it is not how much faith we have, but the object of our faith that saves--faith doesn't save, Jesus does!  When the Hound of Heaven chases you, be ready to respond in due faith. Remember, without faith, it is impossible to please God according to Hebrews 11:6.  Note that Peter cried out, "Lord, save me!"  Our faith must be directed towards Him and, if it is sincere, He will save us.

Doubt is not the opposite of faith, but an element of it; no one has perfect faith, but only sincere and unfeigned faith.  The problem with most Christians is that they refuse to admit their doubts and fears and to thereby get healed of them. Just like Jesus asked Peter why he doubted, it is vital that we confront our doubts and resolve them rather than run from them.  People are ashamed to doubt and don't know that God can answer their questions and can give them great faith. We don't need great faith to do great things, for having faith the size of a mustard seed can even move mountains. We never do great things, says Mother Teresa of Calcutta, we only do things with great love.  God is the one who makes our labors great and we have nothing to boast about. "...[Y]ou have done for us all our works" (Isaiah 26:12 ESV).

Peter did a great thing is attempting to walk on water and God may call us to do some great and even unusual or questionable task that takes faith in our walk with Him. We cannot look down on or judge Peter because he sank, because we have never even made one step on the water ourselves.  It is too easy to criticize when you've never tried it yourself.  "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"  (Phil. 4:13).  "For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me..." (Rom. 15:18).   Soli Deo Gloria!