Knowing Him

Where Do I Begin?

Suppose for a moment that the Creator of the universe is real. Not merely an idea, a religious tradition, or someone who lived long ago, but a living God who knows you and desires that you know Him.

Think about that for a moment. The One who brought the universe into existence wants a personal relationship with you.

What could He possibly want from me? How do I approach Someone so far beyond anything I have ever known? How do I begin a conversation with Someone who exists beyond the limitations of time and space?

Scripture gives us a remarkably simple place to begin.

Hebrews 11:6 tells us that whoever comes to God must first believe that He exists and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him.

There is our beginning. We must believe that He is, that He is alive, and that He responds to those who seek Him.

Now suppose we have taken that first step. We believe He exists. We want to know Him. Where do we go from here?

There is a delightful old song from The King and I called Getting to Know You. Its familiar opening, “Getting to know you, getting to know all about you,” expresses something wonderfully simple about relationships.

Think about how we become acquainted with another person. We spend time together. We talk, we listen, and we begin to understand what matters to them. We discover what brings them joy, what troubles them, what they love, and what they dislike.

As the relationship grows, something remarkable begins to happen. We become familiar with their voice, their thoughts, and their ways. Eventually, we may know them so well that we can anticipate what would please them before they ever say a word.

Could our relationship with God become that personal?

Could we know Him well enough to recognize what pleases Him? Could we become so familiar with His ways that we recognize His voice among all the other voices competing for our attention?

Jesus said something astonishing to His disciples:

“No longer do I call you servants ... but I have called you friends.” — John 15:15

Imagine being called a friend by the Creator of the universe!

There is, however, something we must understand. We live in a world governed by time, space, and the physical things we can see and touch. God is eternal. His perspective is not limited to the few years we spend on this earth.

Scripture tells us:

“For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” — 2 Corinthians 4:18

How, then, can we begin to understand Someone who speaks from an eternal perspective when everything around us seems temporary?

The answer is extraordinary in its simplicity.

He has already spoken to us in our own language.

He has given us His Word.

Throughout Scripture, God reveals His character, His desires, His purposes, and His love. He allows us to see how He relates to humanity, how He responds to faith, how He deals with disobedience, and how faithfully He pursues those He loves.

From the opening words of Genesis to the remarkable scene in Revelation 5, where the Lamb receives the scroll from the One seated upon the throne, we discover that God's purposes reach far beyond our understanding of time.

We are encountering something eternal, expressed in language we can understand.

Yet His Word does something even more wonderful. It introduces us to Someone.

John begins his Gospel with these words:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” — John 1:1

Then John tells us that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Think about what that means.

The eternal God, whom we cannot begin to comprehend in all His fullness, has made Himself known through Jesus Christ.

If we want to discover what God is like, we can begin by looking at Jesus.

We can listen to His words. We can watch how He treated people. We can discover what pleased Him, what grieved Him, what moved Him to compassion, and what He considered important.

We can begin to understand His heart.

Yet Jesus did not come merely to demonstrate how we should live. He came to restore the relationship with God that humanity had lost. He made the way for us to approach God, and He promised Holy Spirit to teach, guide, and help us.

We are not left to discover God through our own strength or understanding.

We can speak to Him. We can pray. We can read His Word, consider what He has said, and learn to recognize His character and His ways. As we grow in our relationship with Him, we can learn to distinguish His leading from our own desires and imagination, always testing what we believe we hear against Scripture.

Jesus said:

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” — John 10:27

Notice something beautiful about those words. Jesus did not merely say that His sheep know about Him.

He said that He knows them.

This relationship was never intended to be one-sided.

Perhaps you have spent much of your life hearing about God. You may have attended church, listened to sermons, read the Bible, or learned the stories of Jesus. All of those things can be valuable, but knowing about someone is not the same as knowing that person.

The Creator of the universe is not merely a subject to be studied. He is Someone to be known.

And perhaps the best place to begin is with a simple conversation:

Lord, I believe You are real. I believe You are alive. I believe You hear me, and I want to know You. I don't always understand how You speak, and I have so much to learn about You. Please teach me. Help me recognize Your voice, understand Your Word, and discover what pleases You.

There is no need for impressive language. There is no need to pretend we understand things we do not.

We simply begin.

The remarkable thing about getting to know Jesus is that we are not beginning a relationship with Someone who has only just discovered us.

He already knows us. He has known us all along.

Perhaps it is time we began getting to know Him.