Pastor's Pondering
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Knowing God vs. Knowing God's Will
by Duane Mabee on October 1, 2020The Apostle Paul wrote: “Everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ” (Phil. 3:8 NLT).
Priscilla Shirer comments on this verse in her book Discerning the Voice of God. “Nothing, Paul said, is as wonderful as knowing Christ – not even hearing His voice and knowing His will, as precious as those are. Hearing Him and discerning His direction were never Paul’s primary goal because he fully understood that if he knew Him, all those other things would naturally follow.”
Knowing God is far more important than knowing His will. As strange as it may seem, we can be so fixated on knowing God’s will that we overlook getting to know and experience Him. We can leave God behind while we “do His will”, but God wants us to know Him and be known by Him more than He wants us to accomplish something for Him.
Priscilla encourages us to take some time to ponder the following questions:
- Could it be that you’re having trouble discerning God’s voice because you’ve somehow bypassed the need to know who He really is?
- Have you been “voice hunting” more than “God hunting”?
- Has knowing His will taken precedence over just knowing Him?
“When knowing God is our chief priority, He will reveal truths about Himself – His personality and His plans – that will point us toward the path we should take.” God’s desire is to know you and be known by you. The more we get to know Him, the more He will enable us to walk in step with Him. As that happens, you will find yourself doing His will when you don’t realize it. So, make your primary desire is to get to know God. He’ll take care of the rest.
