Knowing God

by Brian Bill
Published October 2, 2007

(Written on February 15, 2003)

As a result of September 11th, we recognize that we are not immune from atrocities that might ambush us from the skies. When our government issues higher terrorism alerts, and we totter on the brink of war with Iraq, many of us get filled with fear. And when news of the Columbia tragedy hit, many of us were left reeling as we once again looked toward the heavens for answers. I’d like to suggest that the right approach when faced with uncertainty is to look heavenward.

Someone has said that what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. While knowledge about God is good and absolutely essential, knowing God is more than knowing facts about Him. There are at least 4 ways that we can know God.

The first way is by relying on our IMAGINATION. Everyone carries around a mental collage of a lifetime of experiences, impressions and assumptions. As we mature, we keep updating our Deity database but our knowledge of God may only be second-hand and our personal picture of Him may be factual or faulty.

A better way to know God is to rely on His INVITATION. God wants us to listen to Him and respond to His initiative. It is not we who makes friends with Him, but He who makes friends with us. To know God is to enter into a relationship, which He Himself initiates.

After accepting God’s invitation, we then rely on His REVELATION. God is so far above and beyond us that we are totally dependent on His self-disclosure. Thankfully, God has revealed Himself through creation (Romans 1:20). But this natural revelation is limited. We can know the power of God by observing His creation, but we can’t know His love. For this we need the Bible because God has supernaturally revealed Himself through the Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16). And God’s supreme vehicle for self-disclosure is through Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:3).

That leads to a final way to know God – by personal INVESTIGATION. Jeremiah 29:13 promises, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” If you are serious about getting to know God, you will grow in your knowledge of Him. I urge you to read and study the Bible like you never have before. Start where you are. Permit God to correct your mental image of who He is. Accept His invitation to personally know Him, and let Him reveal Himself to you.

Rick Husband was the commander of the space shuttle Columbia that disintegrated over Texas two weeks ago today. Everyone who knew him knew that he knew God. Before the shuttle took off, Rick stopped the crew and prayed for them. Two minutes before liftoff, a NASA controller commented that it was a perfect day for launch and Rick replied, “The Lord has given us a beautiful day.”

Before the flight, he left a recorded devotional video for his two children for each of the 17 days he would be gone. In a tape made for his home church in Houston, he explained the values of his life: “If I ended up at the end of my life having been an astronaut, but having sacrificed my family along the way or living my life in a way that didn’t glorify God, then I would look back on it with great regret.” After the shuttle disaster, his pastor in Houston was given a note that Rick had written days before the launch that said, “Tell them about Jesus. He means everything to me.”

Why did Jesus mean everything to Rick Husband? Because he didn’t stop at just imagining God. Years ago he took God up on His invitation to know Him by reading His revelation found in the Bible. And, while the commander of the shuttle loved to investigate the heavens as an astronaut, he was passionately committed to search for the One who created the stars.

The American Bible Society ran a full-page ad this week to commemorate the commitment of the Columbia crew. Shouting out from a picture of a moonrise taken from the Colombia is a quote from Psalm 34:17: “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves those crushed in spirit.” You have a choice. You can either look up in fear of what may come from the skies, or you can look up to the One who holds the whole universe in His hands. Take Him up on His offer to know him personally. Your life will never be the same.

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