Knowing the Most High

 “He took up his discourse and said,’The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor, and the oracle of the man whose eye is opened. The oracle of him who hears the words of God, and knows the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered.  I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; a star shall come forth from Jacob, a scepter shall rise from Israel, and shall crush through the forehead of Moab, and tear down all the sons of Shet’.”  ~ Numbers 24:15-17

Often the person who is living the abundant life sees God greatest when he is being brought low or falling.  You often have to take a man off his (high) horse to make him begin to see.  Often what is right before him is oblivious to him because his vision is obscured by either his circumstances, his immediate surroundings, or himself (or, perhaps, all these things).  To see or know God, a person has to redirect his focus toward Him.  Otherwise, he will never see greater than “through a glass darkly.[1]”

Often, God would make Himself known to people through a prophet and even then only in a dream[2].   In Moses’ day, the people were afraid of the thunderous voice of God and required Moses to be their go-between them and Him.  Now days, many people wish they could talk to God direct, but cannot.  Instead, God comes into the heart of the person who has abundant life, in the form of His Spirit.  There is where He speaks with us.  If we are to know Him, we must listen to Him[3].  Strangely enough, God knows our heart and desire.  He knows that we love the sound of our own voice and, therefore, allows us to listen to Him through it.  God has gone, and will go, through many lengths to help us know Him.  He knows that we are primarily lovers of ourselves[4] and works through this fact to form a relationship with us.  That is, He makes a way for us to become a part of Him that we can know Him through knowing ourselves.

Recognizing the Lord 

“Or has a god tried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation by trials, by signs and wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm and by great terrors, as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown that you might know that the LORD, He is God; there is no other besides Him. Out of the heavens He let you hear His voice to discipline you; and on earth He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire.” ~ Deuteronomy 4:34-36

In order for the person living the abundant life to begin to know God, he must understand who God is.  God has certainly demonstrated His majesty and power over the mundane and the spiritual realms[5].  He has also demonstrated His many-faceted nature.  However, we often fail to know Him in even these things.  He has done magnanimous things, such as miracles, that we might see there is no one like Him[6].  His desire is that we grow our understanding of who He is in our heart[7].  He even goes as far toward this purpose as to place it in our hearts.  God does this because He knows that we will not praise Him until we come to know Him the way we were designed to praise Him[8].  He takes us in, like His own child, to discipline us to get to this point where we learn about Him[9].

Realizing What God is in 

“Know with certainty that the LORD your God will not continue to drive these nations out from before you; but they will be a snare and a trap to you, and a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the LORD your God has given you. Now behold, today I am going the way of all the earth, and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one word of all the good words which the LORD your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have been fulfilled for you, not one of them has failed. It shall come about that just as all the good words which the LORD your God spoke to you have come upon you, so the LORD will bring upon you all the threats, until He has destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD your God has given you.” ~ Joshua 23 :13-15

The person living the abundant life comes to recognize that God’s hands are in every good and true action that occurs around him.  He notes in his conscience that God sticks solidly to His Word and that His promises can be trusted.  He develops a keen knowledge of the ways of God, down in his soul that becomes a trust or security for him.  One aspect of God that is learned in getting to know Him is that none of His promises (some say prophecies) fail[10].  This has actually become a strong evidential proof for the Bible being the inspired word of God.  Not one promise or prophecy spoken in the Scriptures has failed to happen.  A good three-fourths of all that was spoken by God, in Scripture, has come to pass.  The only things yet to happen are those prophecies and promises that have been designated to happen still in the future.  If we are to now God, we should be learning about what He has promised and prophesied and begin to see these things as part of who He is.

Being Devoted to Him 

“So now, in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God, observe and seek after all the commandments of the LORD your God so that you may possess the good land and bequeath it to your sons after you forever. As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts.  If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever. Consider now, for the LORD has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be courageous and act.'' ~ 1 Chronicles 28:8-10

Living the abundant life calls upon us to know God by being wholly devoted to Him by keeping His commandments[11].  Perhaps it could be said that staying in His Word (the Scriptures) helps us to be familiar with His voice, His nature, His attitude toward things of this life and spiritual things, and tempers us accordingly.  It is extremely miraculous what occurs in a person who is doing this on a consistent basis, while seeking God and to know Him.  God seems to impute graces on these people[12].   They develop, without trying, the desire in them, to be upright, show integrity, and have a willing heart in the matter of giving and offerings.  All these things bring them indescribable joy and introduce them into the realm of the abundant life.

One sure way to get to start to know God is to study the ways that God thinks and to become convinced that He does not see what man sees, when looking a the exact same thing[13].   We have a tendency to see people from the outside or from their outward appearance.  God sees them from the inside (from their heart).  He purveys everything that we think of rather than paying attention to what comes from our mouth[14].  The Scriptures tell us that He knows all the hearts of men[15].  He desires for us to know His heart also.  As long as we continue to hide our heart from Him, we will never have a close relationship to Him[16].  We will, in fact, become alienated from Him.  The person who wishes to know God with abundant life must open up their life as a complete revelation to God, not attempting to hide anything from Him, and begin to seek Him diligently[17].

Knowledge of God comes through seeing that the only person whom you should desire to be pleased about you is God[18].   The Scripture rarely puts an emphasis on seeking people of this world, other than helping them.  Even in helping them, it reveals that this is actually helping the Lord our God[19].  Those who are living the abundant life have witnessed how God comes into closest vision of those who earnestly search Him out and show that they truly desire to know Him[20].  To really find Him, you must search with your whole being – heart and soul[21].  To truly know someone, you must love them, and to truly love someone, you must know them.  This is the meaning and fulfillment of the first commandment of the New Kingdom[22].  This is also key in knowing God.

Searching in the Right Place 

“All men have seen it; Man beholds from afar.  Behold, God is exalted, and we do not know Him;  The number of His years is unsearchable.  For He draws up the drops of water, They distill rain from the mist.” ~ Job 36:25-27

Many people never get to know God, simply because they look for Him in the archives of scientific data or try to draw up an artist’s sketch of what He looks like from the limited vocabulary of those few witnesses to His glory. 

The problem with the rendering is that no one has seen Him and lived[23].  Of course, this is actually a misnomer, in that we have record of people who have seen His face and lived[24].  In few specific cases, however, have the witnesses been able to satisfactorily describe Him.  In the cases where they have, the framework, wherein these witnesses have worked to describe Him, has been limited by the understanding of man and his surroundings[25].  On, occasion, the witness has search his imagination for description of what he has seen, or what has been revealed, but to many this clouded, even further, a recognizable picture of God[26].  The problem with searching the data is that it is limited to the knowledge of man, which is only capable of a smattering of understanding about what or who God really is.

The problem with using scientific data to put together the likeness of God is that man has no comparable element to God[27].  There are possibly pieces or fragments of God, at their disposal, which the mind of science would find implausible, but no pieces big enough to establish any imaginable form.  This reminds me of scientist who find bone fragments from which they attempt to render a drawing of a whole species.  It is all guesswork and mostly imagination, even if built on what they already know.  All men tend to look for God in the most obscure places[28].  In the case of God, what is known is spiritual and not, in most cases, scientifically verifiable.  The truth is that only those people who choose to live within the territory of abundant life, who see things through spiritual eyes and in love, are able to eventually, over time, begin to see God[29].

Discovering His Knowledge 

“If you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will discern the fear of the LORD and discover the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.” ~ Proverbs 2:4-6

It probably has already been said that just wanting to know God is a good step in the right direction toward achieving it.  Many of the people who went out west to pan or dig for gold found gold.  They did not actually know exactly where it was, nor were they sure that where they dug was where it would be found.  The only ingredient toward their success was that they truly desired to have it.  And, what is more, they were willing to dig for it.  In the same way, those who want to know God, while living the abundant life, see doing so as something more valuable than gold or silver[30].  They want it so much that they are willing to dig for it.

It is hard to imagine anything more valuable than god, silver, topaz, or pearls.  It is even harder to imagine something that cannot be bought if you had all those things and more.  That is why it is hard to get a perspective on the worth of knowing God[31].  Those people who found riches of gold, out west, had discovered something much more valuable than gold before they found gold that actually helped them find gold.  They discovered that, if they were to know where to dig for the gold, they would have to get to know about gold[32].  They would have to learn what it looks like, what its characteristics are, what terrain it inhabits, what can lead one falsely away from it, and what general signs are attributed to it.  In the same way, finding God demands that a person learns as much as possible about Him before searching for Him.  This knowledge of God actually moves you closer to Him.  It is very possible to be looking right at God and not to see Him through ignorance of what to look for[33].  It is always good to profess ignorance, before the Lord, and ask Him to show us all things about Him and how to know Him[34].

Chosen to Know Him 

“All the nations have gathered together so that the peoples may be assembled. Who among them can declare this and proclaim to us the former things?  Let them present their witnesses that they may be justified, or let them hear and say, ‘It is true.'  ‘You are ^< My witnesses,’ declares the LORD, and My servant whom I have chosen, So that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me.  I, even I, am the LORD, and there is no savior besides Me’.” ~ Isaiah 43:9-11

It is probably surprising to many people to find that God actually wants us to know Him.  He actually designed an elaborate plan to make it so we could know Him and believe in Him.  It demands, again, a nearness or intimacy with Him, through Christ, that we cannot know Him without.  He asks that we voluntarily get closer to Him and listen to Him and carefully listen to His every word[35].  In fact, the manner in which we are to listen to Him can be likened to a blind person[36].  We must depend very carefully on every word that comes from Him, so as not to stumble.  Another aspect attributed to a blind person is the ability to trust.  God asks that we believe in (trust in) Him (Christ) as the requisite for salvation.  This trust is also imperative to be a friend of God[37].  It is said that a friend is someone who is willing even to die for you, however, a commoner occurrence is one who would tell you things about himself that he tells no one else.  This latter attribute can be lent to God and those, such as Abraham, with whom He shared many things.  So, God befriends those who trust in Him and shares intimate knowledge of Himself with them.

Delight in Knowing Him 

“Cry loudly, do not hold back; Raise your voice like a trumpet, and declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins.  Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways, as a nation that has done righteousness and has not forsaken the ordinance of their God. They ask Me for just decisions, They delight in the nearness of God. Why have we fasted and You do not see?  Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?' Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, and drive hard all your workers.” ~ Isaiah 58:1-3

Beginning to know God, in the abundant life, is to understanding that God does not expect us to go through torture, pain, and sorrow to know Him.  Thinking this way shows only that we do not know Him at all.  This should be good news for some.  If we cannot earn salvation through struggling[38] in this life, then why do we think that God would make it so that we had to earn knowledge of Him?  It is the propensity left by our sin nature that makes us believe that all God will give us is that which we work for “by the sweat of our brow[39].”  The fact is, we cannot sacrifice enough to say that we have earned anything from God[40].  We can even think we have been given knowledge of God in reward for things we have done or by our ritual good deeds, but this is simply self-deception[41].  No, it is a gift from trusting in Him and earnest desire.  It is reciprocal affection[42].

Evidence that we are beginning to know God or that we are seeing Him, as opposed to some other entity, is witnessing the avoidance of those casual sins in our daily existence[43].  Just think whether you would do those things if God we appearing before you.  Therefore, it stands to reason that the disappearance of these actions is from our keener awareness of His existence around us.

Given a Heart to Know Him 

"For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them up and not overthrow them, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the LORD; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.  But like the bad figs which cannot be eaten due to rottenness indeed, thus says the LORD so I will abandon Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land and the ones who dwell in the land of Egypt.” ~ Jeremiah 24:6-8

The only true way to know God is for Him to plant within our heart His knowledge about Himself.  When we read, in the Scriptures, that God commands us to love Him with “all of our heart and all of our soul,” it soon becomes apparent that we, in and of ourselves, cannot.  Time and again something else is set before our eyes, which tempts us to desire it more than Him.  Those who are living the abundant life understand fully that God is the author and perfector of all that makes them righteous and acceptable before Him[44].  God does this job much better.  He knows precisely how to carve the corrupted heart, to a leave a space that could only be filled or satisfied by love for Him[45].  Where He finds parts of our heart that are hardened toward Him, he works to change it, until the whole heart is filled with love for Him[46]. 

As God made covenant with Israel, he makes one with all those who have entered into the abundant life.  This covenant is to change our hearts toward knowing Him that we might also be His people and consider gladly Him to be our only true God[47].  Once we turn to Him and come, He will take on the responsibility to make sure we will stay[48].  He manages this keeping us, in sorts, by writing His name (law) on our hearts[49].  This reminds one of how we engrave our name or social security number on a possession to assure that it returns to us if someone attempts to separate us from that possession.

It should be mentioned that blessings of this sort come through our ability to meet God from the other direction, and to be moving in His direction, by clearing our lives of things not conductive to communing with Him[50].

Delighting Him in Knowing Him 

“Therefore I have hewn them in pieces by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth; and the judgments on you are like the light that goes forth.  For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. But like Adam they have transgressed the covenant; There they have dealt treacherously against Me.” ~ Hosea 6:5-7

It actually pleases God when we grow in knowledge of Him.  It pleases Him to give us knowledge of Him.  Note that it did not please God that Adam and Eve preferred worldly knowledge to divine knowledge.  He did not think it wise to allow them divine knowledge, once they gained knowledge of good and evil[51].  However, God does want us to have knowledge or to know Him.  The key is the desire to know Him above every other thought or ritual in this life.  If we do not know Him, then all the sacrifice in the world will not bring us favor with Him. Knowing Him entails knowing His passions and purpose[52].

Discovering His Mysteries 

“His disciples began questioning Him as to what this parable meant. And He said, ‘To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is in parables, so that SEEING THEY MAY NOT SEE, AND HEARING THEY MAY NOT UNDERSTAND. Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God’.”  ~ Luke 8:9-11

Living the abundant life and knowing God warrants the privilege of being given information from Him that is kept from those who do not.  One of the modes Jesus used to accomplish this is the parables.  Even today, as we speak to people about Jesus, we can see that some will nod that they understand and receive the message while others will act as though we speak a foreign language.  This is in the design of God.  God calls people whose heart has softened, from what the world has offered, to receive His word as it is spoken and to be edified in the knowledge of God[53].  This is something that God has granted for the abundant life to those who would live it and grow in it.  He continues from new birth to grow us and prune us toward the mind, new knowledge, and complete understanding of Christ Jesus[54].  He gives us the weapons to war against and protect from all knowledge that would try to keep us from true knowledge of Him[55].  He receives us, when we come yearning to know Him and, in our belief, seals us in the knowledge of truth about Him, by the seal and protection of His own Spirit[56].  Within this bond, we can hear what God tells us and can come to know Him more intimately, in a manner not available to general humanity.

Eternal Life Through Knowing Him 

“Even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.” ~ John 17:2-4

The very reason that God sent His son Jesus Christ to the earth to dwell among us and give us salvation is to make it possible for us to know our God – the only true God.  It is not easy for man to know the spiritual God.  God founded this way for us to see Him, in the flesh, read and hear His words in our language, and become reanimated into His life through His Spirit[57].  It is now prescribed that the only way in which we may know God and the things of God is through Jesus, at His will, and in God’s design[58].  Those who are living the abundant life understand the importance of Jesus as the avenue for receiving knowledge of God.  We don’t receive knowledge of God for trivial reason, but to reveal Him to other human beings and to be convinced of Him ourselves[59].  It is imperative that one who is given the ultimate privilege of receiving knowledge of God not squander that privilege.  Knowledge of God is given to a person to be used as a witness[60].  Everything there is to know about God, by mankind, is to be revealed by God’s creation.  If His creation fails to reveal Him, if they do not manifest this knowledge that they have received about Him and who He is, God’s wrath will be upon them.  God has, after all, entrusted that they would make understood His invisible attributes, His eternal power, and divine nature[61].  In that humanity is familiar, in the main, with humanity, God makes those who are living the abundant life a channel through which they discover Him.  We are filled with His Spirit who uses our senses to manifest Christ before their eyes in all His glory and splendor[62].  We are His fleshly channels to reach those who are lost or caught in the net of the evil one.

Revelation in Knowledge of Him 

“Do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” ~ Ephesians 1:16-18

We are not to neglect praying for God to give us, through His Spirit who knows all, the wisdom and revelation of those things about Him.  We have seen that He has the desire and we must express that we have the desire to know Him thoroughly.  Our prayers must seek to know His will in this existence so that we may serve Him to the fullest and be pleasing to Him[63].  There is some great responsibility for admonishing the brethren when you have received knowledge of the things of God, in that you are able to correctly understand how God thinks about their actions[64].  This knowledge has come to you through the Spirit you received and through your maturity in the same toward knowing God and having a strong familiarity with His ways[65].  It is, in fact, very difficult to understand the mind of God and, after all, who could know it.  However, we are encouraged to have the mind of Christ, through God’s Spirit, that we may do God’s will[66].

Herein lies the whole purpose for our having knowledge of God, that we might reveal Him to mankind[67].  It would not be possible for one person, let alone Jesus Christ, to manifest all of the glory of God before men.  Therefore, God gives each one a measure of that portion of Him it is our calling to reveal[68].