knowing God

"The proper study of God's elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead... There's something exceedingly improving to the mind in the comtemplation of Divinity. It's subject so vast, that our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity... While the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it... Whilst humbling and expanding, this subject is also imminently consolatory." -- CH Spurgeon

JI Packer starts his book by quoting from one of Spurgeon's sermon which he found to be a "fitting preface to a series of studies on the nature and character of God." Knowing God is at the very core of our Christian belief. It humbles ourselves, and provide the utmost consolation to us by knowing that our entire life is in the hand of God, a Spirit infinite and eternal, unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. However we need to be aware of the danger of falling into the pitfall of just "knowing about" God.


Knowing God vs. Knowing about God

A little knowledge of God is worth more than a great deal of knowledge about Him. Perhaps we already have a sound doctrine with us, but do we have the gaiety, goodness, and the unfetteredness of spirit which mark those who have known God? Do we have great energy for God? Do we have great thoughts of God? Do we show great boldness for God? Do we have great contentment in Him?

We need to humble ourselves and measure ourselves not by our knowledge about God, not by our gifts and responsibilities in our churches, but by how we pray and what goes on in our hearts.


By His grace, He has let Himself to be known

In order to be known, God has given us His grace by revealing Himself, He comes to you and begin to talk to you, through the words and truths which are written in the Holy Scriptures.

Knowing God is a matter of personal dealing with Him as He opens up to you, and being dealth by Him as He takes knowledge of you. Knowing God is a matter of personal involvement, in mind, will, and feeling, committing yourself to His interests and identifying yourself with His concerns. Knowing God is a matter of grace, the initative which is of God's.

Packer went on to describe each attributes of God: God unchanging, majestic, wise above all, His word, His love, His grace, His goodness, and His justice. I would like to highlight the part about God's wisdom here.


God's wisdom

"His wisdom is profound, his power is vast." -- Job 9: 4

"He has great power and mighty strength, ... His understanding no one can fathom" -- Isa 40: 26, 28

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." -- Isa 55: 8-9

His way is higher than my way, and through what had happened in my life I started to understand this great truth. I had experienced a time when I thought I have a "perfect plan" for myself but in the end God thwarted everything and denied all the seemingly "perfect plan," made me to wait and only after some time do I get to understand that indeed His way is far higher than my way.

"We shall not grow weary of waiting upon God if we remember how long and how graciously he once waited for us!" -- CH Spurgeon

Through this perhaps He would like to strengthen us: in patience, good, humour, compassion, humility, or meekness. Perhaps He has new lessons in self-denial and self-distrust to teach us. Perhaps He wishes to break us from complacency, unreality, or pride and conceit. Perhaps His purpose is just to draw us closer to Him.

"Still He teaches believers to value His promised gifts by making them to wait for those gifts and compelling them to pray persistently for them before He bestows them." -- JI Packer

Short summary of "Knowing God" by JI Packer