I wish my expertise was in this area of knowledge. I do have wonderful experiences in knowing God, but I also have consistent challenges.
This means I am not the best source to learn how to know God, but possibly a relatable source. Sharing similar struggles may align my search with yours, and allow us both to productively gain development in this most important and promising area of life.
This post is very basic now, but will be dynamic, continually added onto and refined when I find helpful and practical suggestions to include for you to consider.
Brief Answer:
How to further know God is really simple … and really complex.
Here is the simple part, we are told how to know God, seeking him through:
- His communication of the Bible
- Prayer and thinking of God
- Interaction with others who are similarly seeking this relationship
Simple. It was meant to be.
Of course, there is also a spiritual component of interaction.
Knowing God is more complex than knowing another person, just as knowing another person is more complex than knowing a house. The knowing of something gets more complicated when the complexity of the object goes up. While this complexity bothers some, we are promised if we seek him, then we will find him.
While we have a reliable promise of ultimate fulfillment, the knowing of God may feel lacking at times now.
It should, that is what drives further seeking, and your level of fulfillment now depends—just like any relationship—on investment into the relationship.
Detailed Answer:
Simple and Complex
God opens up about himself and his ways through his Word, historically through the person of Jesus, personally through prayer and experiences, and spiritually through the Holy Spirit. Investment into these areas, as well as interacting with others similarly seeking God are clear ways we are told how to develop our knowledge and relationship with God.
Further, following God’s ways, what the Bible notes as the best ways to live, not only demonstrate your commitment to a God who demonstrated complete commitment to your well-being, but also opens you up to experience the nature of this God and grow in closeness, opportunity and knowledge of him.
Yet, while these steps seem simple, speaking for myself, my growth in relationship and knowing God at times feels really lacking, stagnant, and challenging. Not so simple.
There Are Levels To This
What did I expect?
Should we expect a relationship with God to match our experience with other people? God is a consciousness beyond three dimensions of space and the one dimension of time we operate in, as well as one having properties unfamiliar to us, such as holiness and omniscience. Even further, God may have objectives beyond our expectations (click on this link for an example).
However, we can safely assume if God wants a relationship with us, then he would communicate how we can best have relationship with him. This part of knowing God is simple—it was meant to be—as described in the brief answer above.
Knowing God is more complex than knowing another person, just as knowing another person is more complex than knowing a house.[i]
The knowing of something gets more complicated when the complexity of the object goes up. Inspection and exploration are steps we can take to know a house. With a person we need further steps, such as interaction and observation of how a person reacts in diverse situations. With a God there likely would be further steps, even further levels of interaction.
While this complexity bothers some, we are promised if we seek him, then we will find him.
No Worries, Guaranteed To Win
This is not something to worry about, it is something to strive towards because this is one of the few races in life where you are ensured victory if you choose to run. Here are some specific promises:
Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV)
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Deuteronomy 4:29 (ESV)
“But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Proverbs 8:17 (ESV)
“I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.”
Luke 11:9 (NIV)
“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
Whether how you get to know God is the way you prefer or not, God likely would know better than anyone else the best way to go about it. And make no mistake, God is opening his heart to you through his Word. And the more you dig into it, the more you realize you are being talked to. There is also an additional spiritual component through the Holy Spirit’s interaction with your spirit.
Jesus may not be talking physically to you as he did with the disciples, but he does so now in a more intimate way—to our spirit directly, and speaking through words by bringing them to our conscience. Also, indirectly through what he completed. It is just as definite a relationship as the disciples had, but in a different way as God has capabilities for relationship that humans do not.
Just like any relationship you invest in, this time through reading his Word, praying, generally seeking him and interacting with others who have the same goals, you will find him and grow in relationship and all the corresponding benefits. If you ignore the relationship, then you have a stagnant relationship, and all the corresponding loss of benefit and consequences.
While we have a reliable promise of ultimate fulfillment, the knowing of God may feel lacking at times now.
It should, that is what drives further seeking, and your level of fulfillment now depends—just like any relationship—on investment into the relationship.
More to come …
[i] A good source I used and took concepts and suggestions from: Packer, J. I. Knowing God. InterVarsity Press, 1973.
