The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1961-10-13
Know God Better
Lesson for October Is, 1861

only TWO LMngS ! must Know are
not things at all but persons
God and myself. So thought
John Calvin. and most people
would agree with him if they
take time to think it over. But
there is a serious hitch here.
God and myself are not only the
most impor objects Of
knowledge, they are the most
difficult. though for different
reasons. We shall not now in
vestigate the knowledge of our
selves. Let us think little
about how we can-if we can
know God better.
On, POINT we have to be clear
about, at the start. God cannot
be known as we know cats or
butterflies. by collecting SAM
pies. You cannot. at will, pro-
duce a laboratory specimen of
God to be put into a test-tube.
The Holy Spirit
mo one comprehends the
thoughts Of God except the Spirit
Of Cod" Il Cor. 2:11.) In other
words. only God knows the in
most truth about God. We can
not walk right in to Gods mind
as if we were a team of investi-
gators authorized to ask Ques-
tons even of the Almighty. We
have to wait huInbly until God
sees fit to reveal himself. Yet on
the other hand we need not be
idle while we are waiting. Be-
sides. we should not expect the
knowledge of God to flash on us
all at once like a stroke of light
ming. 1t is not possible to know
all the truth about God, now or
any time, because God is in
finite. What can be known Of
God, only God. can show US. by
His Spirit; and this will be
gradual, not all at once. One
thing is clear = namely, that
whatever we do know of God, we
know through the Holy Spirit.
There are two points about the
way the Holy Spirit teaches
men about God: The Spirit
speaks only to those who want
to know. and the Spirit speaks
through sometimes c 0 m m 0 n,
sometimes wonderful once-in-a-
lifetime experiences.
Gods Word
There is 20 substitute for
Gods Word. There is no ques-
ton Of either-or-that is, it is
not a question of learning about
God from the Holy Spirit or
from the Scriptures. It is rather
a question of learning through
the Scriptures by the illumina-
ton of the Spirit. Many of us
make a mistake at this point.
We read the Bible through once,
or we read the Sermon on the
Mount, or some other part of
Scripture, and because we have
read it once we suppose nothing
further can be learned. On the
contrary. just as Jesus in the
synagogue. and with his two
friends on the road to Emmaus,
Opened" the Scriptures which
had been familiar yet never
rightly understood, so to this
day. Much of Jesus teach
ing las in the Sermon on the
Mount consisted in casting
fresh light on the Scripture. So
we can say that one way to
learn about God is to study the
Bible again and again, in the
confident hope that the same
Spirit who inspired it will illurni-
nate us.
Gods Will and Work
Another way in which our
knowledge of God can grow is
this: to share His will and to
share His work. This is the wav
to know any human person: it
is the way to know the divine
Person. To know Gods viii is
to get into His mind. But how
can we do this? Best way is to
get into the mind Of Christ. We
do know what was His outlook
on life. We know enough COR we
can learn enough about what
Christ wanted. what he taught
and desired and commanded. to
decide whether we dare (as he
dared u.s. to share His mind
that is to say. to make His viii
our own. And this also can be
done only by help Of his SPIRIT. }
Combined with this approach
not to be separated from it. is
learning to know God by shar-
ing His work. There need be no
impenetrable dark mystery
about what Gods work in this
world is. God is at work making
this world better; are you? God
is at work making better PEG
pie: are you? God is working
for peace not for war; how
about you? God is working for
mercy and kindness and justice;
are you sharing or are you hin
dering His work?
BASED ON outlines copyrighted