HOW
KNOWING GOD, THE ONLY FOUNDATION
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In writing this book, I do not come to you as someone who has all
the answers but as someone who has always had a lot of questions. What I have
written in the following pages is simply some conclusions I have made from my
own struggles to understand the truth about God and man that have helped me
personally over 37 years of my Christian life. Some things, especially
regarding our everyday experience of God I have experienced only enough to know
they are true and in no way have I come close to putting them consistently into
practice. It is my hope and prayer that if you too have struggled with any of
these same questions; you may find within these pages answers to some of your
doubts and struggles as well. In the mean time let us pray for each other that
God will bring us more and more to that place where we know the fullness of joy
that comes from Him alone.
Some of what I discuss is more commonly addressed in technical
theological works; especially in the first section of this book. I have
attempted however to put these matters into as practical and understandable of terms
as I was able since theology often scares many and is viewed as being esoteric
and not at all practical. This is not God’s intent or desire however. His truth
is for all the church, not just the theologians of the church. The word
theology actually comes from two separate words which in essence simply mean a
word about God; “ology” coming from the root word
“logos” which means word or knowledge and “theo”
coming from the root word “Theos” which means God. So
we could say theology is nothing more then a word about God, which we all need.
Last of all I wish to mention I have learned that no amount of
explanation or discussion of God’s truth is helpful in and of itself, no matter
how well or poorly expressed unless it is illumined by God’s Spirit. As Christ
admonished us, those who have ears to hear, let them her… Therefore it is my
prayer and I hope yours that God will enlighten your hearts and minds as you
read this. Without His Spirit working to reveal the Father to us, we can see
and hear nothing from Him. I also pray that only that which is of Him in the
following pages will be implanted in your heart and bear fruit and that which
is not true to His word will fall by the way side. My God richly bless you in
your reading. God speed.
Introduction
Most people today believe in order to understand humanity we
must study mankind exclusively. But might we have it backwards? To fully learn
about and understand ourselves, maybe we need to understand God more
fully, in whose image we are made. Could this be even more
important then the study of human behavior? With all the understanding
modern psychology offers about humanity there still remains extensive
confusion, questions, restlessness and disillusionment about who we are, why we
are here and why we are the way we are.
This is certainly true in the "unbelieving" world that doesn
I believe the Bible teaches we were made by God, for God and
that everything else flows from these foundational truths. But what does this
mean exactly? If God created all things for Himself, which
the Bible clearly seems to teach, where do you and I fit in? And if our
understanding of God (as well as ourselves) comes short of who He actually is
(and therefore indirectly who we are as well) what effect does that have on our
daily lives, if any? Does this
insufficient understanding have an effect on our being as happy and
fulfilled as possible? Does it have any impact at all on whether life is truly
fulfilling or not? If it does, how does it? I would suggest and hope to
prove that understanding certain aspects of God
Aren
Now if these alternate solutions offered by the world do not fit
who we really are and what the Bible says about us, how does that impact us
individually, as well as those in the world we come in contact with? Could it
be that all poor choices in life are a direct result of not knowing who God is
truly and clearly? (By knowing I mean in the personal sense, not merely
cognitively). If that is true wouldn
The world more then ever questions whether God is relevant;
especially in light of the seemingly randomness and hardships of life. Many,
maybe most, (at least in the Western world) have stopped asking all
together and have simply concluded God is not
relevant. They have either concluded He doesn’t get involved in their lives
because He isn’t there or He doesn’t care, so neither do we care about Him. If
the unbelieving world can not see by the lives of those of us who claim to know
Him, the reality of how God does care and does make a significant difference,
it isn
What about those of us who do know God? Even if what we know
about God is sound as far as it goes, is there more we can and need to know
about Him? I believe there are certain aspects of God
We could compare knowing some things about God to briefly
glancing at an intricately woven tapestry and then walking away saying,
"yes I saw the tapestry" believing we know all we need to know and
being satisfied with that. We may feel we know all there is to know about
the tapestry without ever studying it, exploring all the details and learning
what it took to make it etc. Our understanding of God could also be like
entering a sprawling mansion with hundreds of rooms only to look at the
entrance hall that’s displays a map of the layout of the house and then leaving
with the feeling we have seen the mansion. We may think, “Why bother going to
the extra trouble.” But wouldn’t knowing these things
first hand give us a truer picture and appreciation for the value of the
tapestry or the mansion. Without doing so how can we fully appreciate these in
all their richness?
Of course knowing God is infinitely more vast and important then
exploring mansions or studying tapestries. The mere fact that God is infinite suggests
our understanding of Him can never be exhausted in this life or the next. If He
is in fact infinite in every way, our knowing Him can have no end, because He has no end; which is all the more reason we
should never stop striving to know Him more fully.
Certainly whatever our understanding of God is, it must be
within the boundaries of scripture as well as through observing his
creation/creatures within those same boundaries, (through which we can also
learn of Him. [Romans 1:20]). But can we ever exhaust what
lies within those boundaries? As already suggested, I don’t think we can but we
should try with all the strength we have because knowing God, I would suggest,
is the most important endeavor we can ever undertake. If our understanding or
view of God (and ourselves, since they are tied together) is lacking or skewed,
then I suggest every aspect of how we look at and conduct our life will also be
lacking and skewed. This is not just a great dishonor to God but also a great
loss for us.
It has been said the key to great faith is more about the object
of our faith then the faith itself. Believing this to be true, we will
initially focus on God, the object of our faith; who He is, what He is like and
then what knowing Him means for us individually and collectively; how this
directly effects who we are, i.e. why we were created, exist etc. If our
understanding of God (which I hope to show has direct bearing on our understanding
of ourselves) is not accurate or clear our faith will be misplaced and
therefore weak at best, i.e. based on something that does not match reality.
Misplaced faith is living in a dream world at best; a myth, not reality.
But even worse resulting in our not seeing and displaying God to the fullest
extent possible resulting in present and eternal loss for us as well as others,
not to mention the loss of God being inadequately displayed to a world created
for and by Him.
The initial groundwork covered in the following pages will be a
bit more theological and basic to begin with but as we progress we hope to show
the significance and importance of how a sound understanding of God is
essential to laying a strong foundation for living life itself. (Even though
there is a progression of thought through the book, those of you with a more
practical and less technical orientation may wish to skip down to the middle
three sections on pain, faith and obedience first and then come back to the
first section. But I encourage you to come back if you do, as the first section
is foundational to the rest). I should add that I will not be discussing in
depth every aspect of God’s character but primarily those relevant to the
points I seek to address in this book i.e. this book is not an attempt to be an
extensive discussion of all the attributes of God’s. I only hope in reading
this you will discover a little more about God and, therefore, a lot more about
yourself, your purpose and fulfillment and in turn your joy and
contentment in this life.
I would also encourage you just to skim through the table of
contents listed before each section and if you find something that grabs you,
read it. If that section doesn’t help, jump around. Even though everything is
tied together, each section may be helpful on its own depending on where you
are and what questions you have struggled with. Eventually I encourage you to
read the book in its entirety to the get the full sense. But I suggest this as
a possible approach because when I first read J.I. Packers book “Knowing God”
from the start to end I found it somewhat boring and hard to complete. Years
later due to the encouragement of others I picked it up again and skimmed
through and jumped around reading different sections, which brought the book to
life for me. I have since read it several times over and now consider it among
the top 10 most important books I have ever read.
This brings me to another point. You may not find this book
helpful at all for the present. If not, just put it aside. Then some day down
the road when you are in a different place there may be things here that will
be helpful. Many of the books I have found most helpful didn’t help me at all
my first reading as was the case with Packers book. It was only years later
when I came back that God used them to minister to me in a powerful way. That
has been true of many of the most influential books I have read.
One final comment before jumping in; I have noticed many of the
truths of scripture are found in tension. By that I mean the truth usually lies
somewhere between two extremes we are naturally inclined to gravitate toward.
Not unlike balancing on a tight rope where we are inclined to fall to one side
or the other but must stay in the middle in order to keep from falling to our
destruction. I believe this is so because logic though a useful tool is often
given precedence over faith and scripture. As a result certain elements within
differing schools of theological thought take logic to such an end that they
ignore clear teaching of scripture opposite of where that logic takes them.
Logic and reason are like anything else however. They too must come under the
rule of Christ for they like any other gift of God can be used or misused due
to our propensity to be independent of God. Logic though a gift is still being
used by our fallen and finite minds, no matter how gifted the one using it. And
if unchecked can be used as a substitute for faith i.e. we can ultimately
depend on it instead of God to “understand” the world we are in. We must be
aware that in our fallen condition we are prone to want to control instead of
trust. If we can figure out every aspect of God and His dealings then there can
be no surprises; we can’t be “blindsided” by God; or so we think. It is this
fear and desire to understand/control that can drive us to use logic in a way
God never intended.
So, am I saying we should abandon logic and only live “by
faith?” No, no more then we should stop working to buy food but instead trust
God to fly a roasted chicken into our mouths whenever we are hungry. God gives
us gifts to be used for His ends, including our ability to reason, so we should
and must use them. We will address this very point more fully later on.
While a student at
Therefore instead of seeking to reconcile what God has not some
of what I write leaves seemly competing truths in tension and not to complete
closure. You may want to make a mental note of this as you read so you don’t
react and fall off one side of the cliff backing away from the other. I
encourage you to eventually read the book in it’s entirety to see what is said
about the other side before drawing any final conclusions. Often our demand for
“understanding” all the mysteries of scripture is nothing more then arrogance
and ultimately comes out of a lack of trust in God. Even if some things are not
clear in our own minds, it is important and helpful to know they are in clear
in Gods mind and that should be enough and sometimes must be enough and all we
are given.
Now to the book itself; there are four main sections that
address the following questions plus a commentary at the end on
Let us begin.
Section I
====================================================
Do we have a clear
view of God?
(And therefore ourselves)
========================================================
1.
We seek life
2.
We are creatures
3.
Creatures unlike any other
4.
God is Triune. The ground for many
other attributes of God.
a.
God is independent. An incommunicable
attribute
b.
God is love, the ground of his being
personal and relational. A communicable attribute
c.
God loves himself; the basis and
moral ground for this.
d.
God is free
e.
God’s motive behind creation.
5.
How we are like God. A closer look.
6. God is relational
7.
The basis of our value. Like God but
different
8.
The finite and the infinite
9.
Was God’s original plan thwarted by
man’s rebellion?
10.Has God changed?
11. God needs us?
12.Which is God
Nothing can satisfy us at our deepest level but Jesus.
Not recreation, sex, drugs, entertainment, vacations, houses, cars, boats,
money, accomplishments, prestige, promotions, power, academic achievement,
food, TV, friends, family, loved ones, anything or anyone else you wish to fill
in the blank with. Nothing!1 So why are we so drawn, no,
irresistibly pulled to these and find ourselves seeking from them, often
desperately, only what God tells us He alone can give us? To know the answer we
must understand who we are 2, why we are this way and what it
is we are really seeking.
In the next several pages we will attempt to give an overview addressing what
we believe is taught in Holy Scripture regarding these things and then we will
take each point in this overview and elaborate on the implications more fully
in subsequent chapters. We won
1.
We seek life.
What is man seeking? In short, to say it simply and straight out, we seek life.
The bible confirms this directly and indirectly in several places by setting
forth “life” as the greatest goal and reward. (See John 10:10 and 2
Corinthians 5:4b-5a ) And not just life offered to us
for those fleeting moments through the things or activities listed above but
never ending life or to use a biblical phrase, "eternal life".
Eternal life may not be a conscious pursuit for most but since we were designed
for eternity, nothing less will do.
But what is it about “life” that is so important to us and how exactly do we define this life we are so driven to obtain? At its