My son, if you will receive my sayings, and treasure my commandments within you, make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding; for if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding; if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will discern the fear of the LORD, and discover the knowledge of God. (Prov. 2:1-5 NAS)These verses give us clear direction to act upon. First, we are to seek the Lord, second we are to search for His wisdom as we would for treasure, and then we will discover new depths of the knowledge of God.
The Apostle Paul was of the same breed as Moses. He had a longing to become intimate with God in order to be used by Him effectively. In Philippians 3:10, there is a prayer very similar to what Moses had prayed hundreds of years before.
For my determined purpose is that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly].At the time Paul prayed this, he was not a novice in the ways of God. He had spent years after his conversion preparing for ministry. He had seen every type of miracle and manifestation of God imaginable. He had seen visions and even been taken up into heaven to behold things he was not allowed to speak of on earth. Yet after all these amazing encounters, the yearning of his heart was that he might know the Lord!
(Phil. 3:10 AMP)
Paul’s statements reveal his humility and hunger. What a giant in the Kingdom of God! Paul never lost sight of the fact that to truly make God known to the world we must know Him and His innermost nature. Paul cried out to know the resurrection power of God exerted in and through him.
Many would try to discourage us with the idea that we can never really know God because we are not on His level. But the very fact that we are made in His image and likeness means we have the capacity not only to know Him, but to reveal Him.
The message of the Gospel is that Jesus Christ came down to the level of sinful man to lift us to the level of a Holy God. Our hope rests in what Jesus has accomplished in bringing us to the level of fellowship with God that He desired in the beginning. Jeremiah 9:23-24 says:
Thus says the LORD, ‘Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,’ declares the LORD.Throughout God’s Word, He clearly reveals that He will give us His wisdom, His might, and His riches, yet they are not the things we are to boast about. Instead, they are the tools we use to accomplish the things in which He delights: loving kindness, justice, and righteousness.
(Jer. 9:23-24 NAS)
We want His wisdom, might, and riches to make God known in the earth, but our boasting must remain in the fact that we can truly know and understand Him. We are only left on the earth to live among men for a season. Let us faithfully represent Him while we are here.
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