[This post is in a weekly devotional series called Everything New. Sign up here if you’re interested.]
Martin Luther was adamant that our knowledge of God must be based on a “theology of the cross.” That is, we know God not by ascending to where he is, but by looking upon he who has come to where we are. This Messiah’s message was loudest when he was lifted up on the wooden post. We know God when we know the crucified Jesus.
This is the God who wants us to know him. A cancer patient can know God best in the suffering Jesus. So can a rejected spouse, an orphaned child, a discouraged pastor, an unemployed factory worker, an ashamed addict, a remorseful thief, a convicted felon, a teenage mom.
Just ask them. They want to know a God who is “familiar with suffering,” even “despised” and “rejected” (Isaiah 53:3). Because God is revealed in the suffering Jesus, we can know God at the times in life when we most need to know him. And so can any of us at any time in life under any circumstances. This is what the Bible means by the scandal of the cross. Proud human beings typically shun suffering as weakness, but God said, I will meet you at the crossroads of suffering. At a place of blood you will know me as the sacrificing God that I am.
His voice has gone out. In Christ and in Scripture a detailed record of truth has been etched deeply into the history of God and humanity. Now God does the work of revealing to us the true character of that revelation. God the Holy Spirit works in the center of our lives to shape this knowledge of God. The Holy Spirit inspired prophets and apostles, and now the Holy Spirit illumines us. That is the point of 1 Corinthians 2:7-14:
We speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began…. God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
How can we know God? We know him from his heaven-down revelation, which he continues to explain by his Spirit to every individual believer who wants to learn “spiritual truths in spiritual words.”
Excerpt from Putting the Pieces Back Together: How Real Life and Real Faith Connect. Click for more.
God’s Gifts and Creation by Therese Necio-Ortega
– a thankful prayer from a grateful heart
Lord, we thank you for your gift of life
For the opportunity to be alive and do as You will
For giving us Your Only Son to die for us
For giving us the gifts of the Holy Spirit
For the body that we have here on earth
For the senses that we have been given to experience life
For the family that you have given us on earth
For the friends that you have allowed to us to meet along our journey
For the free will that you have generously given allowing us choices
For the mind that we have to us to utilise knowledge to better help others
For the jobs you have given us allowing us to contribute to society
For the country that we call home
For the many beautiful and natural things you have provided
For the wonders that we oftentimes take for granted
For the multitude of blessings that we enjoy
For the realities that we face
For the difficulties that we experience
For the grace that we are privileged to enjoy
For the mercies that we have been given
For the love that we feel
For the joy that we know
For the hope that we cherish
For the understanding that we try to foster
For the time that we are encouraged not to waste
For the everlasting life with you that you have promised
And for the understanding that our purpose and existence is for your honour, glory and praise and to do Your will on earth and in heaven
Thank you Lord for loving us more than we deserve.
We love you Heavenly Father.
I was inspired to pen this prayer after reading the devotionals from Bible Gateway, my quiet time in prayer and after my fellowship with other Christians.
Thank you.
Wow. Thank you, Therese, for writing a profound prayer and for sharing it.
Dear Freind,
It was good reading your thoughts. And with your permission I’d like to say unfortunately in the language I master little the following : Vous qui connaissez les Ecritures, coltinez-vous avec la Tache de rendre la Raison presente dans le monde.
Cordialy,
Clement.
Thank you!!
As is evident from Therese’s comments/prayer above, God is EVERYTHING we need when we need it. He knows us so intimately that He’s counted the hairs on our head. We are so blessed to be “known” in that way by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, to be given unconditional love and grace and mercy we don’t deserve every day of our lives. And He does not hide anything from us. The Holy Spirit delights in sharing everything from God’s Heart and He is with us always. Wow and thank you Jesus is all I can say. It’s too overwhelming and unfathomable to grasp this Truth. While we were yet in our sins, Christ died for us. How can we respond but to obey His every wish.
Thank you guys so much for your words. They are easy to understand and yet filled with powerful and profound messages. Just what I need to hear. Keep up the good work. Good work indeed. The Lord bless you.