Do You Know The Lord?

“How is it that you know Christ in such a personal way and I don’t?” A student asked his Bible professor.

“Maybe you only know Jesus as the forgiver of your sins,” replied the prof.

This story told by Bill Hybels in his book, The God You’re Looking For, continued as the professor explained what it meant to enjoy a relationship with the Lord.

“One problem is our tendency to confuse knowledge about God with knowing God,” observed Mike Cope in One Holy Hunger.

“We easily fall into the trap of believing that information is the key to eternal life, Cope wrote. “So we turn to a “data-based Christianity” to fill us with knowledge about God. We then open the pages of scripture to memorize events that can later be regurgitated as if Christian living were similar to a sophomore history class. What happened on the fifth day of Creation? Who were Moses parents? Who was the second judge? What objects were in the ark of the covenant? How many chapters in the Book of Psalms?”

Cope is not suggesting that information is unimportant, and neither is ThePreachersWord. Childrens’ classes as well as those who are new Christians without a Bible background, need to learn some basic facts about the Bible, Bible characters, God, Jesus, the Church, salvation, and Christian living.

However, as we mature as Christians we ought to be growing and developing a deeper relationship with the Lord.

The Bible wasn’t written to make us smarter sinners,” once quipped Howard Hendricks. The goal of Bible reading and study goes beyond information to transformation. To a changed life. To an other-world view. And to a personal relationship with the Lord.

It is said of Eli, an Old Testament priest that his sons “did not know the Lord” (1 Sam. 2:12). Surely, they knew His name, who He was, and something about the Mosaic ordinances and statutes. Rather this means they lacked spiritual fellowship with God. Jehovah did not influence their lives, their decisions, their attitudes and their actions. Their lack of a personal relationship with Yahweh led them to be wicked and worthless.

How can one fulfill the command to “be zealous” (which is our writing and preaching theme this year) apart from Divine association? Too often as John Eldridge wrote, “Communion with God is replaced with activity for God.”

Our relationship with the Lord is spoken of in varying ways by religious writers.

• Martin De Hann refers to it as “a radical reliance.”
• Joe Beam calls it “a craving.”
• Mike Cope describes it as “a holy hunger.”
• John Eldridge, in a book by the same names speaks of it as a “sacred romance.”
• Joe Stovell, in his little booklet, depicts a mature relationship with God as “Experiencing Intimacy with God.”

While these expressions may cause some to feel uncomfortable, consider the words of David described as “a man after God’s own heart.”

As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So pants my soul for You, O God.
–Ps. 42:1

My soul longs, yes, faints
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
to the living God.
–Ps. 84:2

Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.

“When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate on You in the night watches.”
–Ps. 63:3, 6

The depth of David’s desire and longing for a close relationship with the Lord sounds similar to how a man might describe his feelings for a woman. One, however, is human and physical. The other is Divine and Spiritual.

Please be advised that your spiritual passion can never be ignited without a deep, personal, and loving relationship with the Lord. He provides the ultimate source to enkindle your soul’s deepest desires.

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (Jas. 4:8).

Do you know the Lord?

–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman