KNOWING THE FATHER
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. (Ephesians 1:17, NIV)
The process of coming to spiritual maturity is based upon coming to “know” the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. This does not mean that we come to “know about God,” but that we come to “know God.”
We may have heard about some worthy person in our community from others. We may have read about what they have done and studied and admired their life story. But until we have met and conversed with them in some way and for some time and sensed something of their inner being and their motives, we can’t say that we really “know” them.
Thus growing in our “knowledge” of God is not an intellectual or emotional process. Rather, it is the result of an ongoing experience of “fellowship” brought about by the “Spirit of wisdom and revelation” doing his work within our innermost being.
We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete. (1 John 1:3-4, NIV)
God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:9, NIV)
Jesus told us that we start to pray by saying “our Father”
(Matthew 6:9). In other words we are to talk to God as a child would to its parent. We can tell him how we feel, what our immediate needs are and bring the needs of others and ask him to do something about them.
But transcending all this, we start to come to an understanding of his eternal goals and how he wants us to become involved in bringing them to fulfillment. In this way we can learn to leave our own needs to him and become absorbed in whatever he wants to do in the sphere in which he calls us to be involved.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Good post.
Psalm 103:7, "He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel."
Deuteronomy 34:10, "And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face"
Maybe we could learn from Moses. In the Psalm above, we find a clear and interesting contrast. Israel were witness to God's acts - in Egypt and in the Wilderness. But they did not KNOW WHY. Moses, on the other hand, was witness AND he knew why. This is only gained by an ongoing intimacy.
Moses, at the outset was clearly chosen and preserved by God. Besides midwives who were under orders, from none less that Pharaoh, to kill Hebrew males as they flopped out of the womb, the Nile is known for its huge and deadly crocodiles. But God's protection only saves a man and does not train him. So, with his mother watching from afar, Moses is raised in the Royal Palace. He is privy to politics, intrigue, financial considerations, military tactics and kingdom building. He was,
"... learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds" (Acts 7:22). That means that he was also schooled in the ancient religion of Babylon from Nimrod, knew how and why the Pyramids were built, and had, as is normal, his body promised to Satan, as is customary still today in Free Masonry. This lasted all of 40 years. As men's choice goes, Moses was surely the last man to lead God's people.
In the prime of his education, physical prowess and political position, something in him sees the plight of his countrymen - Israel. Being the man "mighty in words and deeds", he endeavors to use his natural position, power and prowess to alleviate the sufferings of Israel. As men go, no better or well-connected man could have been on Israel's side. But to be a king and deliverer on God's terms, means that a man must become nothing. He must learn that God is everything, and he is nothing, if not a hindrance. Accused of murdering a citizen of Egypt, with its attendant death penalty, Moses must run like a dog with its tail between its legs. He is at once, by his "mighty deeds" disqualified from leading God's people.
Similar to Paul's 14 years in isolation, Moses is trained in private by God in a cauldron of heat and thirst for 40 years. We know very little of what happened to Moses in those 40 years, but we know that at the end of it, he was at an all-time low. He was not in the Wilderness, but in "the back-side" of the Wilderness (Ex.3:1) - with the only conversation being the bleating ofsheep. And after meeting Jehovah at the burning bush, we find that he is neither, "mighty in deed nor word". The once "mighty in word and deeds" must take for himself a spokesman - Aaron. Surely this man is clearly unsuitable to lead 2 million rebels out of Egypt to Canaan?
But something had happened to Moses. The training and its defeats, under the hand of Jehovah, had molded a special man. It was a man with all the skill and knowledge to build a Pyramid, but who could lead sheep in the wilderness with affection, for whe these sheep rebelled and were in danger of annihilation, Moses bridged the gap as Mediator and even offered himself as substitute. But this sheer courage and clever dealing with God is tempered by a sure knowledge that God chooses - and not man. So when Korah and his hoard rebel (and they had a good argument), Moses throws himself face-down onto the dusty desert floor. What Korah never learned in his lifetime was what Moses was INTIMATE with. God chooses, and you can do what you like, but God will prevail. The word "meek" is different to the word "humble". Humble means you know your lowly position, but meek means you accept everything that happens to you. Now, where did Moses learn that?
Moses is upheld by God and Korah disappears bodily into Hades. How different it was when Moses' time came to step back. After leading God's people, mediating between God and Israel, receiving the Law and the pattern of God's House, Moses must remove himself from the door of the tabernacle - for God has another High Priest of HIS choice - Aaron. And there is no word of complaint from Moses that that coveted position should have been his - not Aaron who built the golden calf. Is God at all fair? Moses does not even think that way. Why? Because, as the Psalm above says, "Moses KNEW God's WAYS". Whatever had happened to Moses in those 40 years of heat, thirst and bleating sheep, HE KNEW HIS GOD. And so, after 80 years of training, and 40 years of leading a stiff-necked and rebellious people in the dreaded Sinai, Moses could cast his fate into the hands of that God he knew "face to face". He was found unsuitable to enter the Good Land. Surely that broke his heart?
But NO! Meekness is not easily learned, but when it has stuck, it serves a man very well. Moses, who had watched God be so merciful to a stiff-necked, rebellious and idolatrous people, receives no mercy himself. But he harbors no evil thoughts toward his God, for he KNOWS that God is righteous. And surely, centuries later, God sends an arch-angel to get Moses' BODY back for one single reason. Moses might not enter the Good Land in temporal chastisement, but God does not forget service. And Moses, of all men in the Old Testament, may join Elijah.
"... in the holy mount", to witness
".... the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ", and be,
"... eyewitnesses of his majesty", hearing,
"a voice to him from the excellent glory"!
(2nd Peter 1:16-18)
THAT ... is the fate of a man who KNOWS GOD INTIMATELY! What fame! What honor!
"... in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore" (Ps.16:11)!