Knowing God

I am reading Knowing God by J.I. Packer at the moment (a MUST read!) This book was written to help Christians know God truly and deeply. I'm not talking about the knowledge of God or even having momentous times when a person felt God. I'm talking about the emotional and relational connection a person has with God--a continuing two way relationship in which our obedience to Him comes out of our deep love for Him. It gets so confused with "godly knowledge" or "knowledge about God" and we completely miss the fact that Jesus died to give us a relationship.. not information. The Israelites had information about Him, but they weren't able to know the heart of God and feel His presence in their lives daily as they walked with Him. Salvation is a transformation--the beginning of real hope--the joyous communion of man and God once again--its grace that is poured out like a waterfall. 

Jesus said, "My sheep know my voice. I know them and they follow me." We know God because he first decided to know and love us. 

J.I. Packer said, "This is momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort--the sort of comfort that energizes, be it said, not enervates--in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love and watching over me for my good. There is tremendous relief in knowing that his love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench his determination to bless me." -

Don't we feel most of the time that love is conditional? That if others knew this one thing about us, then they wouldn't love us. Time and time again we decide to hide our imperfections and struggles to meet the criteria the world displays. We not only role play with our peers or our family, but also (and unfortunately) with a Holy and Sovereign God.  Because we are so used to sweeping these things under the rug day after day, those pretend roles are etched on to who we think we are... until they are eventually pointed out. We must accept that God in His love and mercy knows every bit of our sin and imperfections (even more than we know about ourselves). We can't trick God--lets not try. He is waiting for us lay the script aside. Humbling ourselves before God-- raw before Him. This puts us exactly where we our meant to be: at His feet, ready to serve, living as empty vessels. Covering struggles or imperfections only worsens the ache to be fully loved. He is our portion and our satisfier. He fills each hole in our heart perfectly and completely. Let that put joy in our hearts and praise in our mouths when we get up in the morning... He loves us in spite of ourselves.. no matter what! What an unimaginable concept to realize that God thinks about YOU (even when your not thinking about Him)--He is with you every second of everyday--watching over you and loving you unconditionally. Lets give our all to truly know the One who gave His most prized possession for us. He is so worth it.