Acquaintance With God

I would like to intro­duce my remarks by reading from the Gospel of John, chapter 17, verse 3: "This is eternal life, to know you, the only true God, and him whom you have sent—Jesus Christ" (Phillips).* Here we have two great Christian opportunities brought to our atten­tion. First, and most important, the oppor­tunity to know God, the Creator of the universe, and ruler of heaven and earth; and Jesus Christ, His Son. Resulting from this knowledge and acquaintance with God, it is pointed out, we will have eternal life.

I want to talk with you about knowing God. But we shouldn't pass by quickly the reward that is brought to our attention here—eternal life. None of us are eager to know God only for the reward, but it is stated here emphatically that those who do know God and His Son Jesus Christ will have eternal life. It is hard for us to visual­ize just what eternal life means. It is life without end, life without cessation—years and years—billions of years. And it isn't to be eternal life in a land like this, with all of its defects and limitations, but a land where there is no death, no sorrow, no sickness, no sighing—a land of happiness and joy, a land where we will become better acquainted with God every day.

Now there are some difficulties in know­ing God. It may not be quite as easy as be­coming acquainted with our fellow men.

All of us know how to make friends here on earth. However, we don't see God, and we don't hear Him, we can't shake hands with Him. The ordinary ways in which we learn to know men and women are not possible with God. Yet it is most important that we know Him and know Him better than we know any human friend.

Job recognized the difficulty of contact­ing God. You will remember the long trial he had. During this time God was watching him carefully, but Job didn't know it. In the twenty-third chapter of Job he says. "Oh that I knew where I might find him! . . . Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot per­ceive him . . . : he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him." Job was having a most unusual trial, and God seemed so far away. Even Jesus Christ, when He was hanging on the cross, said, "My God, my God, why hast thou for­saken me?" There are times in the experi­ence of all of us when God seems to be far away. We wish we could somehow see or touch or hear Him and know He is near to sympathize with us and to hear us. When Job said these words, he knew that God saw him. He continues, "But he knoweth the way that I take." Even though he could not find God by turning to the right or to the left, by going forward or backward, he realized God knew the wa-s, that he was taking. Yes, God does know all about us. He knows us better than any of our friends know us, better than we know ourselves. Jesus said, "I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands." Throughout eternity Jesus will bear those scars on His hands—the purchase price of our redemp­tion.

God wants us to become acquainted with Him. Many have done so. Enoch, who lived before the Flood, walked with God. Abraham, after the Flood, was called the "friend of God," and David was "a man after God's own heart." When the angel came to Daniel, he said, "0 Daniel, a man greatly beloved." How we would like to have that said to us—"greatly beloved"! In the Gospel which John wrote are these words, "Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus." Now we would perhaps say Jesus loved the whole family, but that isn't the way it was. He loved them individually, and the reasons that led Him to love Martha were totally different from those that led Him to love Mary. And He loved Lazarus for still different reasons. He loved each one individually. And He loves you and me, just as He loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus.

God is no respecter of persons. These individuals had no privileges that you and I lack. We too have the opportunity of walking with God just as surely as did Enoch. God is not partial. He was not par­tial to Enoch or to Abraham or to any of the others. We can have the same experi­ence that any of them had. We can be the "friend of God." We can be the one "greatly beloved." We can even be the be­loved disciple.

Each time we read the Bible through we read the story of Jesus Christ four times. Perhaps it is four times more important than anything else in the Bible, but in all parts of the Bible we read of God. When we read the Word it leads us into fellowship with God, and we think His very thoughts after Him. Many people have become ac­quainted with an author through reading his books, and we can become acquainted with God by reading His Word. There we learn of Christ's sacrifice for us, of the re­demption He has given us, of the home that He is preparing for us, and the promise that He will come again and take us to that home.

Just as the Lord talks to us through His Word, so we can talk to God—a two-way conversation. We can talk to Him through prayer. We have a wonderful opportunity in talking to God. We can do it at any time. We don't have to make an appoint­ment with Him first. We can come into His presence immediately—at a moment's notice. There are no waits when we talk to God. Instantly He is connected with us, and He hears every word and gives atten­tion to it. He knows our hearts and thoughts and is interested in hearing our prayers. When we really pour out our hearts to God and tell Him all of our per­plexities, our problems, our worries; when we spend time praising Him for His good­ness and for the benefits we have received through Him, we can spend hours in prayer and not worry about the time it takes. God wants us to converse with Him —not just say a prayer to Him. There is a great deal of difference between saying a prayer and actually praying. God wants us to talk to Him. We are friends of His, and you know how friends are when they come together—how they chat and tell what has happened since they last saw one another. The Lord wants us to tell Him everything that is on our minds. He wants to hear from us.

I was interested in reading a letter writ­ten by Fenelon, the Archbishop of Cam­brai, written in the seventeenth century. He was a Catholic and a man of God. I want to read just a few words that he wrote to a friend, Vidome D'Aimens. He said, "Tell God all that is in your heart, as one unloads one's heart to a dear friend. Tell Him your troubles that He may comfort you; tell Him your joys that He may sober them; tell Him your longings that He may purify them; tell Him your dislikes that He may help you to conquer them. Talk to Him of your temptations that He may shield you from them. Show Him all the wounds of your heart that He may heal them. Lay bare to Him your indifference to good, your depraved taste for evil, your instability. If you thus pour out to Him all your weakness, your needs and trouble, there will be no lack of what to say. You will never exhaust the subject, it is con­tinually being renewed. People who have no secrets from each other never lack sub­jects for conversation. They do not weigh their words because there is nothing to be kept back. Neither do they seek for some­thing to say. They talk together out of the abundance of their hearts, without con­sideration, just what they think. Blessed are they who attain to such familiar un­reserved intercourse with God." I believe when we have that unreserved intercourse with God where we tell Him everything that is on our hearts, then we are ac­quainted with God through prayer. I have talked with Him, I have felt His presence. He has answered my prayers. You too have had the experience, and you know that you are better acquainted with God for such experiences.