You Gotta Know God

My people have turned their backs on me and have refused to return. Even though I diligently taught them, they would not receive instruction or obey. They have set up their abominable idols right in my own Temple, defiling it. [Jeremiah 32.33-34]

I suppose the absolute brilliance of the Bible is found in its application to both individuals and nations throughout all history past, present, and future. This passage from Jeremiah is no exception.

Jeremiah is prophesying about Israel's captivity. He gives much detail about what landed Israel in their predicament. God's message that Jeremiah records is clear that His people had spiritually devolved into a state of refusal toward God: they turned their backs on me and have refused to return... they would not receive instruction or obey. 

Here is where we should focus our inquiry: What were God's people refusing? The simple answer is: They refused to return to God. But, lest we too quickly satisfy ourselves with a simple and general answer, God provides a critical revelation about Israel's "refusal." when He said, "Even though I diligently taught them, they would not receive instruction or obey."

What did God teach that His people refused to return to?

What is every teacher's goal? To teach, to impart knowledge, and to displace erroneous thoughts and ideas with correct thoughts and ideas. This is accomplished in an environment of rules, regulations and boundaries. But any "good" teacher knows its even more than that...

So, let's think about this a moment... What does a good teacher want their students to know? Rules? Regulations? Boundaries? These are all good, but they do not reveal the goal of the teacher, right? So, what is it that a good teacher wants the students to know? A good teacher wants the students to gain knowledge. A good teacher wants the students to understand the benefits of knowledge. A good teacher wants the students to know that the application of knowledge will protect them from the hardships, pain and suffering of ignorance or erroneous thinking.

But how many times do we reflect on the good teachers of our past marveling at the knowledge they imparted? I dare say not near as much as we reflect on those teachers who went beyond that and loved us.

God has no intention of our relationship with Him being about rules and regulations. He wants us instead to know Him in His great love and care for us!

But aren't rules and regulations necessary? Of course they are! But, only to the extent that they define the parameters in which the greater goals of love and preservation are lavished. Rules and regulations are not love, but they reveal where love exists and finds its greatest, unrestrained expression.

What does the Good Father want to teach his children? Rules? Regulations? Boundaries? These are all good, but they are not the heart of the Father, right? So, what is it the Good Father wants his children to know? He wants them to know that by His nature He cares for their well-being. He wants them to know that by His character He only wants good for them. He wants them to know that by His power He wants to protect them from hardships, pain and suffering. He wants them to know that He loves his children. He wants them to know HIM!

This is where we steer back into God's words through Jeremiah: "Even though I diligently taught them, they would not receive instruction or obey." And, in their refusal to know God, the people ...set up their abominable idols right in my own Temple, defiling it.

Let's look in the New Testament at an amazing revelation regarding the knowledge of God (knowing God) and its antithesis:

We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. [2 Corinthians 10.3-5]

It's all about knowing God - not knowing rules. In fact, where the aforementioned "teacher" analogy breaks down is where knowledge becomes "human reasoning and ...false arguments" - the very idols that keep people from knowing God!

From the very beginning, the Bible reveals God. In no uncertain terms and on several different occasions, God Himself declares Who He Is and What He Does! God fully intends for His people to take Him at His Word and live accordingly. He went so far as to make the very First Commandment a specific precedent over everything:

“You must not have any other god but me. [Exodus 20.3]

Anything that keeps people from knowing God is an idol. Knowledge that displaces God in His rightful place as God is an idol. Knowledge that only reserves for itself a "necessary" place with God is an idol ("God can heal, provide, whatever, but...").

God's people, in Old Testament times as well as New Testament times, face the exact same dilemma: not knowing God. And, as a result even today, idols of human reasoning and false arguments remain at war with the knowledge of God (and vice versa). Sadly, as this idolatry took place in the Temple back then, so it likewise takes place among the Church now. What's worse is that the New Testament Church has Jesus Christ revealing God's very nature and character in person and STILL struggles to know God.

God is God. There simply is no other. Until God's people acknowledge and unreservedly embrace this fact returning to Him as God alone, they will continue to live in powerless existence with little or no effective witness to an increasingly skeptical world. Again, merely acknowledging the fact that God is God is NOT enough! WE MUST EMBRACE GOD! WE MUST RECEIVE EVERY WORD HE SPEAKS ABOUT HIMSELF. WE MUST SEE GOD'S WORD AS TRUTH AND CATEGORICALLY REJECT ANY AND EVERY WORD OF MAN THAT WOULD SUGGEST OTHERWISE!

To see God as God, there is simply no place for idols. They must be removed. And, this is where it gets REAL - it gets UNCOMFORTABLE - and it may even get downright PAINFUL. The idols must go! For this reason, a person must clearly understand what an idol really is: anything or anyone that takes claim in our lives for the work that God said He would do. In essence, idols present human reasoning and false arguments that keep people from knowing God (Corinthians 10.3-5).

Bottom line: Return to God based on what He has taught about Himself! We gotta know God!

Father, the depth of this is beyond my capacity to even think, let alone articulate here. But it suffices today that I should repent of my stubbornness in holding to idols and refusing to return to You. Help me to see how Jesus confirms everything You have ever said about Yourself, Your mercy, and Your faithful love for all mankind. May my life be found in Him!