This past year has been a difficult journey, with failures and victories. As emotional beings we can have feelings that cause us a lot of stress and even doubt. I cannot tell you how many believers I have met that in confidence have shared that they were worried if they really knew God. I would have to admit to that same struggle at times when my life is not what I know it should be. Sadly, there are those that have decided they have arrived and believe their righteousness is sufficient. I have come to the solid conclusion that I will never be righteously acceptable, God is the One that makes me acceptable. This begs the question then..."How can I know I know God?" In the Scriptures it is clear there is never "arrival," even Paul stated that. Take any individual in the Scripture and you will see - it is in the journey where the evidence is seen. When a person tenaciously continues to pursue the Lord, never quitting, that is a person that knows God! One of my favorites is Moses, and he gives us great insight from his life!
Exodus 33:7–34:8 Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch
it outside the camp, a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent
of meeting.
A person that truly knows God makes time to be with Him. This
is not an afterthought, but is the priority in his schedule. Do you have a “tent
of meeting”?
And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting which was outside
the camp. And it came about, whenever Moses went out to the tent, that all the
people would arise and stand, each at the entrance of his tent, and gaze after
Moses until he entered the tent. Whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of
cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent; and the Lord would speak with Moses. When all
the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all
the people would arise and worship, each at the entrance of his tent.
When you truly know God, your heart burns for others to know
Him also. Not to make you appear right or feel more secure. That would show
that you have a religion only, not a relationship. When you KNOW God, He is so
wonderful that you desire all that you care for to experience His presence
also! Do you ask the Lord to open doors
with those you know, to share His love with them? Do you live in such a way
that those around you see the Hope you have and ask you about it?
Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to
face, just as a man speaks to his friend.
When you know God, really know Him, He is never the enemy. He
does not intend harm, or delight when you suffer. Even His strokes in
chastisement are from love, and you understand that. When you think of Him; not
only God, Lord, Father come to mind; but also Friend and Daddy. Are you able to relax with the Lord…laugh with Him? When you sin, are you
mainly concerned about your weakness and being judged, or are you upset that
you have hurt your friend?
When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the
son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. Then Moses said to the
Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring
up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with
me. Moreover, You have said, ‘I have known you by name, and you have also found
favor in My sight.’ “Now
therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your
ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too,
that this nation is Your people.”
And He said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then he said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here.
“For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your
people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be
distinguished from all the other people
who are upon the face of the earth?”
When you truly know God, you are not afraid to ask what is on
your heart. Can you speak freely to the
Lord? This does not mean irreverently, it means; can you share your heart with
Him…even the things He may not like? This
includes your doubts; your pleasure with certain sins; your anger at various
issues. When you are that honest…you
know Him!
The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this
thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have
known you by name.”
When you truly know God…He will answer your requests. Does He?
Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” And He
said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim
the name of the Lord before you;
and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on
whom I will show compassion.” But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man
can see Me and live!” Then the Lord
said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory
is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with
My hand until I have passed by. “Then I will take My hand away and you shall
see My back, but My face shall not be seen.”
When you truly know God, you will want more! Like Moses, you
will not settle for a little bit of God, you want all you can get. Are
you content to just stay where you are or do you desire a deeper, more intimate
walk with God?
Now the Lord said to Moses, “Cut out for
yourself two stone tablets like the former ones, and I will write on the
tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered. “So be
ready by morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present
yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain. “No man is to come up with
you, nor let any man be seen anywhere on the mountain; even the flocks and the
herds may not graze in front of that mountain.” So he cut out two stone tablets
like the former ones, and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up to
Mount Sinai, as the Lord had
commanded him, and he took two stone tablets in his hand.
When you truly know God, you obey Him. Do you? If you fail, do you run to Him and confess?
The Lord
descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of
the Lord. Then the Lord passed by in front of him and
proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps
lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet
He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished,
visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to
the third and fourth generations.” Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth
and worship.
When you truly know God, no matter the encounter, you will
worship Him. The scriptures are full of those that encountered God, no matter
the situation; i.e. blessing, judgment, revelation or mystery, each time the
individuals ended with worship.
With all the things about our Lord that are beyond our
understanding…are you able to put all that aside and worship Him? One secret…the
more you worship – the
more He gives you understanding of His mystery!
