You Can Actually Know Him

"Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD.
 Jeremiah 9:23-24 (NIV)

I can say this one name, and you’ll be impressed: Albert Einstein. He believed in a being with "superior reasoning power," but he also said, "There is a God, but we could never know Him." Despite being brilliant in scientific theory, he missed it completely in spiritual theology.

The truth is that God Himself tells you that you can know Him. The Hebrew word for "know" describes the intimate knowledge a husband has of his wife. This isn't knowledge about God; it's knowing God. It’s knowing the works of God, the wisdom of God, the wonder of God, the ways of God.

God is not distant, sitting in an ivory tower, and unknowable on a relational level. He knows you completely and desires for you to know Him intimately. You can know God as a son knows a father, as a wife knows a husband, as a sheep knows their shepherd.

But the great danger of religion is this: You can come to know about God without ever coming to know God.

This week, instead of just reading your Bible for information, pray before you open it: "God, I don't want facts about you today. I want to know you personally. Speak to me." When you pray, don't just recite requests; have a conversation. Tell Him what you're really feeling. Listen for His voice in the silence.

Let this central truth set your heart on fire: you can know the God who knows you completely.

Prayer: Father, I don't want to just know about you. I want to know you personally and intimately. Break through my religious routines and help me encounter you as my Father, my Shepherd, my closest Friend. Meet me here, right now. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.