THAT I MAY KNOW HIM

As human beings, we long for interpersonal relationships – for a closeness that in many respects, only another can satisfy. Our relationship towards each other is an intensely personal thing that grows with exposure and familiarity. It is in such a relationship that thoughts are shared and emotions are expressed which help to create an emotional or soul-bonding glue that welds two together. There is safety and security in this level of a relationship. But even as deep and meaningful as a human relationship can be, it can only satisfy to a certain point. By design, we have been engineered to experience the ultimate relationship, one that transcends the familiar intercourse between body and soul, one that is spiritually known between only God and man.

With just five short words, the great apostle Paul articulates man’s greatest pursuit – the pursuit of God. This is the ultimate relationship and, therefore, the ultimate satisfaction. It is what the apostle expressed in his prayer, “That I may know Him.” The word “know” in this verse means “to study the face or to trace the face by touch.” It is a word that describes a blind man having to slowly and carefully glide his fingers over the face of another person so as to understand the look and feel of the other. This is intense and deeply personal as it requires both to cooperate. God wants us to know Him like this, in such a way that it is beyond a predetermined day set aside for worship like a Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Such a desired relationship cannot be limited by a day of the week or an hour of the day. It is to know God outside of a program or manmade tradition.

Satisfaction of the human heart can only be found in a continuous pursuit of God. The true follower of God knows this and knows that this desire springs from within. What a mysterious dynamic it is that while a man is in pursuit of God, he is aware that he is already in possession of God. This is true because God has already taken possession of the man. It begins with God as He initiates and awakens our thoughts and desires to seek Him. As awkward as this writing is in the attempt to describe a heart that is in pursuit of God, I pray that the reality of this truth will be yours. If, as of yet, you have not experienced this God-to-man, man-to-God relationship, then know this – the faint ember of this desire in you is nothing less than God Himself reaching out to you. Reach out to Him and keep doing so throughout this entire New Year with the same never-ending prayer of every true believer, “That I may know Him.”