Knowing God

Having attended CTK-Cambridge for three years, I am long overdue for my mandatory reading of Knowing God. I just started it a couple days ago, but it has some great stuff in it.

"Being Known

What maters supremely, therefore, is not, in the last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it-the fact that he knows me. I am graven on his hands. I am never out of his mind. All my knowledge of him depends on his sustained initiative in knowing me. I know him because he first knew me, and continues to know me. He knows me as a friend, one who loves me; and there is no moment when his eye is off me, or his attention distracted from me, and no moment, therefore, when his care falters.

This is momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort - the sort of comfort that energizes, be it said, not enervates - in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love and watching over me for my good. There is tremendous relief in knowing that his love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench his determination to bless me."

This is a crucial truth for us to recognize as we experience the inevitable mood swings of the Christian life. No matter how worthless we feel (as indeed we are worthless), God is not surprised by our sin. Likewise, God is unimpressed with our piety (although as those being sanctified, Gods grace will grant us increasing obedience).

As the relentless political ads continue during the election season, we will doubtlessly experience an ebb and flow in our perceptions of the various candidates. As the media reveals new scandals or tales of heroism, our opinions may slide up and down the scale between euphoric agreement and hard-nosed cynicism. In reality, nothing about the candidates will change, but as our knowledge grows our judgments of the persons will change.

The point is simply this: God does not act this way. There is no confession that will cause him to cut us off from his love, and no good deed that will win his favor. He knows us better than we know ourselves.