A question I often ask sceptics goes something like this: “If God exists, how would you know?” The problem is that many people want to know God as they know objects in the world. You can know God, but not in that way. You see, there are different ways of knowing. For example, I can confidently say, I ‘know’ my wife. But that doesn’t mean that I have analysed and comprehended her intellectually. The kind of knowledge I have of my wife is a relational knowledge. It comes, not by detached objective inquiry, but through a deeply personal investment, a mutual process of self-giving, of trust, which leads to progressive self-disclosure. That’s what faith is and does. Faith isn’t a substitute for ‘real knowledge’. No, faith is a kind of knowledge. It is a personal-relational way of knowing. That’s how we know God: by faith. So, anyone can know God. We must, however, be willing. We must be willing for him to be God: sovereign and incomprehensible. To know God is to forfeit your right to rule your own life. To know God we must entrust ourselves to him and, as we do, he will reveal himself to us in relationship more and more. As we give ourselves to him, so too will we receive of him. That’s faith. That’s how we know God.
Pray the prayer of Ephesians 1:17-23 over yourself.
Ephesians 1:17-23
