Chapter 2: The People Who Know Their God

"It is those who have sought the Lord Jesus till they have found him--for the promise is that when we seek him with all our hearts, we shall surely find him--who can stand before the world to testify that they have known God." - Page 32

How often do you ask yourself the question: Do I know God? This chapter begins where the prior chapter ends, pointing out the difference between knowing about God and actually knowing God. Packer's focus in this chapter is providing the evidence of one actually knowing God for themselves. He makes two strong arguments:

1. One can know a great deal about God without much knowledge of him.
2. One can know a great deal about godliness without much knowledge of God.
   

Here we see that having knowledge about God and understanding what it means to be godly does not necessarily mean that one knows God. So how can we determine whether someone actually knows the LORD?

Packer uses David, along with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego as an example of people who display the evidence of knowing God. He outlines this in 4 parts:

1. Those who know God have great energy for God.
   
   • "the people that know their God shall be strong, and do exploits" Daniel 11:32 KJV
   • Knowing God should translate into having a passion for God and doing whatever it takes to walk in obedience to His Word. Those who know God take joy in Him, which results in them being strengthened, which then results in their ability to perform great works in His Name.
     
     
2. Those who know God have great thoughts of God.
   
   • Packer points out that our thoughts of God are often expressed through our prayer life, which he writes is "always the best evidence for a man's view of God". - Page 30
     
   • People who know God carry a high regard for Him and esteem Him continuously within their mind.
     
   • God is their treasure.
   • Daniel displayed this all throughout his life, in his prayer, praise, devotion and witness of God before all who were around him, Jew and Gentile alike.
     
     
3. Those who know God show great boldness for God.
   
   • "Neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy." - Acts 20:24 (Paul speaking)
   • Showing determination, being unashamed of God, walking with a fear of God and not man, and taking risks for His Name's sake are all evidences that one knows the LORD.
   • Daniel showed this in praying to the LORD openly by a window 3 times a day despite a decree stating that any man that prayed to anything other than a specific golden idol which was set up by Nebuchadnezzar would be put to death.
     
     
4. Those who know God have great contentment in God.
   
   • Those that know God have peace with God no matter what situation they find themselves in.
   • Daniel and the 3 Hebrew boys showed this in one of my favorite passages of scripture, Daniel 3:13-17:
     

     Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”
     
     Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

     
     They basically told the king that even if the LORD does not deliver them, they will still not bow down to a false idol. They were secure, even to suffering death in a firey furnace, that their God was real and would deliver them one way or another. They knew their God. As Paul, they "learned, in whatsoever state they were, therewith to be content." (Phil 4:11)
     

This chapter was a very powerful read. It has re-emphasised the importance of spending time with God and getting to know Him and not just know about Him - an area where I have struggled thus far in my Christian walk. I thank God for using brother Packer to write this wonderful chapter on what it means to bear the fruit of knowing God personably.

Chapter 1: The Study of God

"We must seek, in studying God, to be led to God." - Page 23

The purpose of studying about God is not merely to obtain a head knowledge and understanding of his attributes, his nature, and his being. It is so that with this knowledge we can approach God for who He has revealed Himself to be in His WORD and develop a relationship with Him. It is when this happens that we go from knowing about God, to actually knowing God. As I read this first chapter, the one thing that kept ringing in my ears was: "It is not enough to know the letter of the Word, you must know the Word Himself." As all Christians should know - John chapter 1 reveals to us that in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God, and the Word became flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. So in spending time in the Word of God we are actually spending time with God, and as we get to know the Word, we are actually getting to know Jesus Christ Himself.

Packer pointed out some very important scriptures to keep in mind when reading, studying and meditating upon scripture. The first is 1 Corinthains 8:1-2

"...Knowledge puffs up...the man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he out to know." (NIV)

Here Paul is saying that when you obtain knowledge there is a tendency to be prideful and self-righteous, thinking that you know more than others. We should always stay humble keeping in mind that we ourselves know nothing except the Father reveals it to us in His Word by the power of His Holy Spirit.

Packer then quoted Psalm 119 where David is basically asking for understanding and discernment of God's Word, showing how much He loves the law and asks that God Himself teaches him. This brings to mind 1 John 2:27

"But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him." (ESV)

It is God who should teach us. We should be filled with and led by the Holy Spirit, who is the revealer of all truth. I am not saying we should not heed to the teachings of men and women in the church, but what I am saying and I believe what John is clearing up, is that it is the anointing that uses these men and women to teach the Word - they are not teaching from their own understanding but are sharing a divine revelation of the Word of God via the Holy Spirit.

Packer does a great job of explaining why we should study about God, why theology is important, and how meditation on the Word is necessary. To sum up the answers to these questions, Packer writes the following:

"How can we turn our knowledge about God into knowledge of God? ... It is that we turn each truth that we learn about God into matter for meditation before God, leading to prayer and praise to God ... And it is as we enter more and more deeply into this experience of being humbled and exalted that our knowledge of God increases, and with it our peace, our strength and our joy. God help us, then, to put our knowledge about God to this use, that we all may in truth "know the LORD"." - Page 23