Knowing God

Toward the end of a special interview with Carl Jung on television, a reporter asked, "Dr. Jung, do you believe in God?" There was a long silence, as Jung seemed to contemplate how to answer the question. Finally, with a look of profound assurance he stated, "I don't believe, I KNOW."

In Psalm 37:1 (NIV) David says, "Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong." Evil makes most people fret. The news today, as always, is full of stories about evil. Bad things happen and people want to know why. We are afraid they will happen to us or to those we love. And they do. We also want to know why. We want to make sense out of what seems so senseless.

Without God, there is no sense to life and its events. Even with God, there is not always an immediate answer to every question that is asked. Knowing why is not the key to life. The quest to know why often leads only to frustration and fretting. The key (and ultimately the answer to all questions) is to know God.

David tells us not to fret about evil men. He goes on to tell us how to do this: "Trust in the LORD and do good" (v. 3). "Delight yourself in the LORD" (v. 4). "Commit your way to the LORD" (v. 5). "Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him" (v. 7). "The salvation of the righteous comes from the LORD; He is their stronghold in time of trouble." (v. 39).

To have inner calmness and peace, to be able to trust and delight in God only, to learn to wait patiently for God to act instead of acting ourselves, to be still at all in this noisy world, to have the ability to "not fret" because of evil. To trust God fully and completely, we must know Him. Knowing God goes way beyond believing in Him (though belief is the first step). Religion is all about explaining God, or at least trying to. Spirituality is about knowing God. The role of our church should not be to make us all more religious. It should be to create and maintain an atmosphere in which we can be spiritual. Church should help us in our quest to know God.

Make no mistake; the ONLY way to know God is through Jesus Christ. That's the reason Jesus came. He came to make it possible for us to know His father, to be able to know God intimately. Sin makes it impossible to know God. Sin frustrates us and makes us fret. Jesus took care of all that. He took care of sin, of Satan's power, of frustration. He provided us with the way to know God.

I recently read that young people want to change the world, adults want to change their families, and older people realize that they can change only themselves. I guess I'm somewhere between

being an adult and an older person. I still try (from time to time and all too often) to change members of my family (both my physical family and my spiritual family). However, I am learning that all I can really do is to pray. It is God's business and responsibility to change others. It is my job to make sure that I am allowing God to change me.

David knew exactly what he was saying when he advised us to be still and wait patiently for God. The more I know God, the more aware I become of just how He is working out His will in all those who love and trust Him, even in me. Knowing God: that is the key to life, both this life and the next.

Larry Urbaniak

God Is Love

Love - “God IS Love,” says the Apostle John. Love here is from the Greek Agape. God is Love personified. He loves His erring creatures and wants to help and give them eternal life. This kind of love is self-disinterested. It is the most unselfish giving, and it could be exemplified in no greater degree than in God’s giving the greatest gift that could be given...His One and Only Begotten Son! The dearest treasure of His heart was sent into this world ... “He left the realms of Light...to enter the depths of night!” This Son, Who was “daily His delight,” He sent to be our Savior and Sin-Bearer! Yes, “For God SO LOVED the world that He GAVE...His only begotten Son, that whoever should believe in him, should not perish but have everlasting life. God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him (John 3:16, 17). God reached down from heaven, stretching His mighty arm -- Jesus -- to pluck the sinking sinner from the grasping waves of death.

Extracted from a CMF Booklet

“Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glories, glory in this, that he understands and knows Me” (Jeremiah 9:23, 24).