Today’s Devotion
Topic: To Know God
Text: 1 Samuel 3: 1, 7
1 The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions. 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. Amen
Knowing God requires a little more than just being born into a religious home, or being a worker/leader at church. It is an encounter that another can not have on your behalf.
From the text above, the boy Samuel is said to have ministered before the Lord yet did not yet know the Lord. For: THE WORD OF THE LORD HAD NOT YET BEEN REVEALED TO HIM.
Don’t forget his mother Hannah, had him after her personal relationship with Yahweh. She even vowed him to the Lord and fulfilled that promise without fail. That is why the boy Samuel is found serving in the house of the Lord in the first place. Yet like Samuel, our parent’s personal relationship with God does not automatically cover for us.
Although, the devotion of parents to God necessarily involves making sure their wards love the Lord too, when it comes knowing God, none can do so for another. It is an individual decision.
What does it therefore mean to know God? The simplest answer is in verse 7, and that is “to have the word of God revealed to you.” However, it goes a bit deeper than that because the knowing Him must lead to fellowship with Him. It is not just knowledge of Him we acquire but a lifetime relationship. To break it down:
- To know God is to be able to tell and identify His voice, as His word is being revealed to us. Jesus said in John 10: 27, that His sheep listen to His voice. Samuel did not yet know the Lord because he could not recognize the voice of God.
- We do not only hear His voice but obey what we hear Him say as well- His word (John 14: 21). This also shows we love Him.
- We know God when He can call us His friends as Jesus later called His disciples- (Luke 12 :4)
- We know God when we move from being friends to being His brothers (Matthew 12: 49). By that we have become part of His family hence heirs of the kingdom.
We therefore can claim to know God when we have a personal relationship with Him through consistent prayer, bible study, obedience, righteous living and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
Remember Jesus explained in prayer that eternal life is that we get to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent (John 17: 3). Therefore Paul wrote, “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death. Begin to pray that God opens the eyes of your understanding to know Him.
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31: 33- 34). May the Lord fulfil this word in our hearts now and forever.
Know the greatness of our God. Learn His attributes in this song and leave us a comment. Click: https://youtu.be/-_O5pKJ-8LM
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