Knowing God
A few years ago, I participated in the international bible study program Bible Study Fellowship. For a variety of reasons I realized it probably wasn’t the best fit for me in terms of a program, but I did appreciate the disciplined approach to how they structured their classes. That particular year, we studied a section of the Old Testament from Joshua through the reign of Solomon and one of the things we learned that I don’t remember ever having heard before was from a section of scripture found in 1 Chronicles 21. I’ll be honest this wasn’t a portion of scripture I knew much about—the kings of Israel and the various kingdoms had always felt confusing to me and I don’t feel like I left seminary with a solid understanding of this section of the Bible—other parts, yes, but not the kings and chronicles of Israel for some reason.
This story comes at the end of King David’s life. We are told Satan rose up against Israel and compelled King David to take a census of the people of Israel. His servant Joab tried to raise the question “umm is this really such a good idea? Why do you need to know this number?” But David prevailed and in order to satisfy some prideful part of himself David wanted to know how great and mighty his nation was. But months later when the census report came in David immediately knew he had sinned and he says to God “I have been so foolish, take away my guilt.” You see, DAVID didn’t build up the nation of Israel into a great and mighty nation. God did. It wasn’t David’s place to be prideful of his kingdom, God gave David everything he had. Of course God forgives David for this, but there was still a consequence. God says to David “okay you have 1 of 3 choices for this punishment and you get to pick—either choose 3 years of famine for your land, 3 months of devastation by your enemies who will overtake you, or 3 days of the sword of the Lord—the angel of the Lord will bring a plague on the land.” Goodness gracious what an awful choice to have to make! Honestly, I have no idea what I would say in this situation. But David had an answer almost immediately. He says “Please let me fall into the Lord’s hands because God’s mercies are very great, but please don’t let me fall into human hands.”
David knew God. He knew God’s terrible power and holiness and knew God would bring about destruction in the land because of David’s prideful sin, and indeed that’s what happened. But David also knew God’s incredible love and mercy. He’d experienced God’s forgiveness and blessing over and over in his years so when the choice came to fall prey to human hands or the hand of God Almighty, David knew he was safer with the Lord.
I’ve been thinking about this story a lot. It’s an awful, stark story about the severe consequence of pride. But it is also so striking to me to think about how intimately David knew his God. How often do we approach reading our bible or a “quiet time” as one more thing we are “supposed” to do before we run about our busy day? How often do we approach the bible as if it’s a text book and we’re simply trying to learn the facts? I know I’ve been so guilty of this over and over in seasons of life. I want to KNOW God like David knew God. I want to find myself in a place where if faced with the choice to trust humans or the hand of God I’d choose the hand of God without hesitation because I know so well the depth of His mercy and love even in the midst of discipline and consequence. I’ve come to believe the key, the cornerstone of this kind of intimacy with our Father is only to be found in His word. We can know God’s character by knowing His word. It’s the primary way God’s chosen to reveal Godself to us in 2021—through God’s word. And when we let it sit idle on our bookshelf for weeks on end we will never experience what I do believe God longs to show each one of us. God’s heart. It’s there. It’s all over the pages of this book, we only need to open it for ourselves.
Time in scripture, especially during the summer when kids are home full time, can be so tricky, but I’m coming to learn that even a few verses a day being input into our minds and hearts is so much better than nothing at all. May this be a summer we press deeper into God’s heart, may we begin coming to know God the way David did, personally, intimately, and with deep trust. On Friday this week I have a 5 on Friday post to share with you all to wrap up the week and one of the things I’ll share what I’ve been doing so far in 2021 to help with knowing God more, for the first time in my adult life I’ve found something that’s kept me in God’s word even through the harder books of the Bible, and I’ve found myself more drawn to scripture than maybe ever before. Blessings friends, and may you find yourself hungry to know God more this week.
