What does it mean to know God?
January 5, 2023 - Thursday, Christmas Week
Psalm 100:1b-2, 3, 4, 5
Psalm 100 calls the entire world to worship God and it gives two reasons for that worship. The first reason is that God created and chose Israel as his treasured possession. The second reason is God’s unique characteristics: his goodness, kindness or steadfast love, and faithfulness.
The Book of Deuteronomy states: “the LORD is God; there is no other besides him” (Deut 4:35). That is what we also hear in our psalm: “know that the Lord is God”. The temptation to idolatry is always present. We often worship the object of our own making or we worship ourselves by usurping the position of God. The statement “the Lord is God” points to the first commandment, “I am the LORD your God”, followed up with the warning, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Ex 20:2-3).
In Hebrew, the word “to know” is also used to describe the intimate relationship between husband and wife. In the book of Genesis, we read: “Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain” (Gen 4:1). Adam attached himself to his wife. Both of them created an unbroken union. Thus, “to know” someone involves not only our mental faculty but also our emotional and spiritual faculties. “To know” can mean to have pity, and sympathise with someone’s pain and suffering. But what does it mean to know God?
In the Book of Samuel, we meet two priests, the sons of priest Eli. The author of the book describes them as “worthless men” and adds: “They did not know the LORD” (1 Sam 2:12). How is it possible to serve the Lord and yet not know him? Knowing the Lord means obeying His commandments. Unfortunately, too many people claim to have information about God but they do not follow what He asks them to do.
Prophet Hosea made a powerful indictment against his people that they do not know the Lord (Hosea 5:4). Why? They deserted him for other gods and as a consequence behaved like worthless men. They worshipped him with their lips but their hearts were far from him (see Is 29:13). They had no sympathy for their God who created them and redeemed them from slavery in Egypt.
The statement, “know that the Lord is God” invites us to abandon our idol worship of technology and economy and attach ourselves to the Lord. We owe Him so much. He created us and this beautiful world we live in. Then, He knew our sufferings, had pity on us and came to redeem us. In Jesus Christ, our Lord, we see God’s goodness, steadfast love, and faithfulness.