MONDAY
Our new campaign that we started yesterday is called The Presence of God. In this campaign we are going to be looking at the life of Moses as a model of experiencing the presence of God. Moses went from hiding his face from God when he first encountered him at the burning bush in Exodus 3 to speaking to God face to face as one speaks to a friend in Exodus 33 and asking God to show him his glory.
Exodus 3:6b And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
Exodus 33:18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”
What changed? His experience of God’s power and presence throughout the Exodus led him to pursue the presence of God. In this campaign we will see from the life of Moses what a life pursuing the presence of God looks like.
At the heart of this campaign is the reality that God is of a nature that we should not just seek to know things about him but we should also seek to experience his presence. There is a great difference in knowing about God and knowing God. If you were to ask me if I know Stephen Curry I would have to say that I know about Steph Curry but I do not know him personally. By that I mean that although I may know a lot about him, I have never been in his presence or experienced relationship with him on a personal level. Alternatively, if you were to ask me if I know my wife Savanna (get your mind out of the gutter you Bible nerds; I’m not going there—haha) I will definitively declare that I do and probably laugh at the silliness of the question. I both know a lot about her, and I have experienced her presence for countless hours.
There is great value in truly knowing God. The statement of the purpose of life that I love comes from the New City Catechism. “God created us male and female in his own image to know him, love him, live with him, and glorify him.” Jesus, in praying his High Priestly prayer equates eternal life with knowing God!
John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Paul makes it his aim to know Christ. He considers everything else in his life (achievements, status, approval, etc.) a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ.
Philippians 3:7–11 7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
These are not small statements. Adding to this J.I. Packer in his great book Knowing God writes:
“What were we made for? To know God. What aim should we set ourselves in life? To know God. What is the “eternal life” that Jesus gives? Knowledge of God… What is the best thing in life, bringing more joy, delight and contentment than anything else? Knowledge of God.” - Packer, J. I.. Knowing God (p. 33). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.
Additionally, Henry and Richard Blackaby and Claude King write in Experiencing God:
“Merely knowing about God will leave you unsatisfied. Truly knowing God only comes through experience as He reveals Himself to you through His word and as you relate to Him.” - Blackaby, Henry T.; Blackaby, Richard; King, Claude V.. Experiencing God (2021 Edition): Knowing and Doing the Will of God (p. 16). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
With this concept in mind, the big question I want to pose to you in this campaign is, “Do you know God?” I agree with Packer in his hunch that “Not many of us, I think, would ever naturally say that we have known God. The words imply a definiteness and matter-of-factness of experience to which most of us, if we are honest, have to admit that we are still strangers.” (Packer, J. I.. Knowing God (p. 24). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.)
If Jesus is right in saying that eternal life is to know God (Jn. 17:3), then we have a major problem on our hands. We must, like Paul, make knowing God the pursuit of our lives.
Now, before we go any further I must pause and address one possible criticism of this campaign topic. Perhaps you’re thinking that this topic is another lofty, religious idea that has no practical value. “John, I’m struggling to make ends meet. My relationship with my spouse is strained. I don’t know how to parent my kids in this phase. Work is super stressful. I don’t know how to handle my finances and my schedule. Why aren’t we talking about those things?” Those topics, of course, are fine but they are shallow. Only talking about those things can also deceive Christians into believing that this is all there is to the faith. On this Packer writes, “Once you become aware that the main business that you are here for is to know God, most of life’s problems fall into place of their own accord.” (Packer, J. I.. Knowing God (p. 34). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.) Moreover, Brother Lawrence, a 17th century monk wrote:
“I still believe that all spiritual life consists of practicing God's presence and that anyone who practices it correctly will soon attain spiritual fulfillment… There is no sweeter manner of living in the world than continuous communion with God. Only those who have experienced it can understand. However, I don't advise you to practice it for the sole purpose of gaining consolation for your problems. Seek it, rather, because God wills it and out of love for Him. If I were a preacher, I would preach nothing but practicing the presence of God. If I were to be responsible for guiding souls in the right direction, I would urge everyone to be aware of God's constant presence, if for no other reason than because His presence is a delight to our souls and spirits.” - Brother Lawrence. The Practice of the Presence of God . Whitaker House. Kindle Edition.
Now, I think it’s overstated to only preach about the practice of the presence of God, but not by much. This is perhaps the most important practice in the life of the Christian and can leave the Christian in a state of peace regardless of our external circumstances.
Additional Content
“The question is can we say simply, honestly, not because we feel that as evangelicals we ought to, but because it is a plain matter of fact, that we have known God, and that because we have known God the unpleasantness we have had, or the pleasantness we have not had, through being Christians does not matter to us? If we really knew God, this is what we would be saying, and if we are not saying it, that is a sign that we need to face ourselves more sharply with the difference between knowing God and merely knowing about him.”
Packer, J. I.. Knowing God (p. 27). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.
Reflection
Can you say that you know God as I have been describing it, here? If so, it is my prayer that your knowledge of God will deepen in this campaign. If not, it’s my prayer that in this campaign you will begin to pursue a knowledge of God that goes beyond knowledge about God into a relationship with him. And that this experience of God will not be a pursuit of any mystical experience but an experience with the one true God revealed in Scripture.