It takes a long time to really know someone, and even then it’s not easy. If fact, it’s rare to truly know another person. You have to understand their history, observe how they interact with others, look at the work they do, and gain insight into their nature. You have to study them. Celebrate with them. Mourn with them. You have to talk. You have to listen.
That kind of knowing takes a lifetime…and even then is limited by the lens through which we view our own life and experiences. It’s complicated, to say the least.
It’s the same thing when it comes to knowing God.
I grew up knowing stories about God. I went to Sunday School and church, read the children’s books, watched the shows. I could recite the creeds and say the prayers. Who is God? The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What does He do? He saves us from our sin. Yep, I thought I knew it all…but I didn’t.
How is it possible to wrap our minds around the Creator of the Universe? The One who breathed us into being and spoke the world into motion. The One who longs for relationship with his people, who chose a nation so that He could reveal who He is and what He does. The God who loves us in spite of our brokenness. Who loves us in spite of our rejection. Who loves us so much that He would send a holy Savior, a Way for us to live in His presence for free and for forever.
Knowing Him begins with the still, quiet voice that says there is more than meets the eye in this world. Pay attention. Look deeper. Stop trying to understand Me and just try to know Me. Gaze upon the beauty of My creation and know I exist. Read how I set apart the people of Israel, so I could reveal myself to the world. Look how I kept my promise to send a Savior, to redeem those who put their faith in Me. Watch how I work today, through the lives of those I call my own.
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. Matthew 7:7 Deuteronomy 4:29 Jeremiah 33:3
We must seek, my friends. In the midst of our hardest days, we can’t stop seeking to know Him, the Gift Giver. For in doing so, we are promised that we will finally receive the gift, the still.
In this 31 day series, I’ll flit and flutter around the topic of
seeking the still within the boundaries of God’s grace. I’m open to the
whispers of the wind, so fly with me if you wish.
