Knowing God
[1st part]
How can we come to know God? You may be saying, ‘that’s a highly philosophical question and only for philosophers to answer.’ But it’s not. It’s a very practical and relevant question and very ordinary people grapple with this question.
Yet we cannot come to know Him unless He first makes Himself known to us. Only then can we know Him. God must first disclose Himself to us, and He has! We come to know Him by two means.
First, we come to know Him through His witness in the creation He has made. You see His stunning wisdom as you gaze upward into the sky on a clear night, the sheer magnitude of space, the countless galaxies and each star having its own defined place. Next, look at a new born baby, so wonderfully knit and so perfectly formed in nine months! The hand of the Creator at work! Consider those parts of nature we take for granted: the regularity of the seasons. As one poet writes, “The seasons are fixed by wisdom’s design. The slow changing moon shows forth God’s design. The sun in his circuit his Maker obeys and running his circuit hastes not nor delays.” The Bible says, “The heavens are declaring the glory of God and the firmament proclaims His handiwork.”
God’s universe “is before your eyes like a beautiful book in which all creatures great and small, are as letters to make us ponder the invisible things of God, His eternal power and divinity.” [Belgic Confession, Article 2]. His signature is imprinted on every facet of creation! His witness in creation, though not using words, is universal. It is constant. God never stops giving witness of Himself, His majesty and His wisdom, in all that He has made.
His witness is clearly seen. We are reminded in the Bible that all these things are enough to convict men and to leave them without excuse. We have no excuse for not knowing Him.
So why do we have no excuse? Because God has made His witness plain in the creation. The problem is our sin. Sin has brought great confusion to the understanding of mankind --- so much so that man is unable to receive the clear witness.
We need something more. He makes Himself known to us through another means. That we wait for in our next article.
