MAN, KNOW THY GOD

Part 2

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How come they could not believe God would bring them into the Promised Land after all that they had seen Him do in their midst? This is why: THEY DID NOT KNOW GOD. They only knew the things God had done but they did not know Him. They only knew His acts but not His ways. For had they known His ways they would have realized that here was a God who  would act consistently in His manner always.

He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel (cf. Psalm 103:7)

That was the difference between Moses and the people he led. 

This is also the case with many believers. They have no working knowledge of God and as a result they find themselves behaving like these Israelites did. I do not say they have no information about God. For indeed, many have been exposed to a lot of information. Many have come to know about the new creation realities and the true gospel message but still do not know God. They have heard of wonderful things just like the Israelites saw wonderful works but do not yet know God and this reflects in their faith towards Him. Indeed many will argue they know and believe God till their lie is revealed in the midst of adversity: where they are stripped naked to see that they only paid lip service.

This happens because many of what people call knowledge is kept in their brains. They only possess a mental knowledge of God. But God is Spirit and must therefore be known with and in the spirit of man. This constitutes true and effective knowledge of God. This produces true faith. This produces the immovable faith which smiles in the face of storms. This knowledge cannot be forgotten or cannot lose its effect because of time because it is centered in a man's spirit. The Israelites should have known the ways of God through His acts but because of their hardened hearts, they could not recognize the God behind the miracles. In the same way many believers have also failed to know the God of the word. They pursue knowledge but not the God about whom the knowledge speaks and therefore fail to possess true faith. Working faith is in a believer contacting the Lord. The word only becomes a vehicle bringing the Lord to the believer. Many think revelation is all about knowing something you did not know before. How wrong. Revelation is contacting the Lord who is the spirit of the word. In contacting Him our hearts are flooded with light. We contact life and right at that point faith is stirred, true working faith which rises to the occasion, which goes forth as a consuming fire, is not afraid of anything and is able to overcome.

...and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith (cf. 1John 5:4b)

Let us not just seek information lest we walk in unbelief even after knowing about God. Information does not produce faith. It is knowledge of God that does. May we know God in His word. May we know Him in the experiences that come to us and may we know Him in His work in others also. We will be able to do that by opening our spirits to Him in meditation. By meditation, I do not mean reasoning through the word. I mean waiting on God through the word till He is revealed to your spirit. This is the right attitude which produces true faith. Those who pursue knowledge because of the glory of knowledge fail to see the Lord who is in the knowledge as life. These are exposed in the face of trials. Paul prayed for the church at Ephesus to receive the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God, the eyes of their understanding being enlightened... 

I pray the same for you that you may possess true knowledge of God and as a result, true and working faith. 

Amen. 

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