What does it mean to truly know God? How can I truly know God?
I've just been re-reading the Old Testament book of Job, and it strikes me that one of the most important questions in the book is not so much that of suffering per se but of how we can know and understand God - in Job's case, in the midst of suffering, and in his friends' case, when observing the suffering of others; but also for anyone in any situation - how can I truly know God and his ways?
At the beginning we discover that there's something going on about which Job and his friends know nothing; there is a heavenly, spiritual dimension to the world in which The Accuser ('Satan') asks for, and is given, permission to test Job's faith and godliness.
Then, when Job's suffering begins, he himself and his friends begin to look for answers. But the problem is that they start from the point of view of human wisdom & understanding. This is what's made clear at the end of the book when God himself answers Job.
The friends are dismissed as not having spoken wisely - yes, they have said some true things about God, but they haven't understood the subtleties of what's going on in the interraction between God, The Accuser and Job. They are ignorant of what's really happening.
And even Job is accused by God of speaking with mere human insight. So God asks him repeatedly, 'Do you know...?' 'Is it by your understanding that...?' 'Have you seen...?' etc. And the answer, time and time again is, 'No, I haven't seen. No, I don't know. No, I don't understand.' And finally, in chapter 42, Job realises that some of what he's said has been arrogant and foolish because, 'I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.'
Job's fault was to try to answer his own questions rather than turning to God and accepting God's answers. No, the answers did not come quickly, and the waiting period was unimaginably hard for him. But in the end, Job had to admit that he himself could not answer ultimate questions about God and life and death, but that he had to allow God to speak for himself. And he hadn't done this because he was imprisoned by The Accuser who is the 'the king over all the sons of pride.' (41:34).
Now there's a lesson we must all learn. If we're to know God, we must be humble enought to realise that by and in our own mind we will never find God. Instead, because God has spoken by his word and especially in the Lord Jesus, we must humbly listen to what he says about himself. Too often we try to know God by our own thinking and supposition. When God seems far away, when life seems to complex and difficult, we need to learn to spend more time listening to God in his word, the Bible. Then we will know him better and understand his ways and his world.
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