KNOWING GOD

Knowing God

Those who know your name trust in you, for you, O Lord, have never abandoned anyone who searches for you.Psalm 9:10

David was a man who knew the God he served. He hadn’t just heard about the Lord. He had walked with him. That’s why he loved God and could thank him with all his heart in good or bad times.

“To know, know, know him is to love, love, love him,” says an old song about romantic love. We do not trust those we do not know. Throughout the Scriptures God gives us snapshots of his character as he reveals himself in his workings in history, in his people, and especially through his many names: Name above All Names, Jehovah Jireh (the Lord Our Provider), Jehovah Shalom (the Lord Our Peace), God Our Refuge and Strong Tower, Our Shepherd, and in this psalm, “a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble” (v. 9).

It is easy to focus our eyes on the things that shake our lives and the difficulties that try our souls and forget who God is. Although we can never plumb the depths of God’s nature with our finite minds, we can pursue a lifelong quest to know him. Then his promise in today’s verse—that God has never abandoned anyone who searches for him—will be true in our experience.

OH GOD, grant me the deepest desires of my heart—to know you and be known by you. Remind me of the marvellous things you have done for me so that I can tell others. Thank you for filling me with joy because your presence is near me and your Spirit dwells within me. Today I will sing forth your praises! I thank you with all my heart.

How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer’s ear! It soothes his sorrow, heals his wounds, And drives away his fear!

John Newton (1725–1807)