I. What?
We don’t know God as He wants us to know Him. He is more than what we knew about Him when we first had an encounter with Him. He is more than an encounter; more than an experience; more than an anointing; more than a ministry; more than what we know about Him today. We need to be about Getting to Know our God!
II. Why?
A. Getting is in the present tense, a process of acquiring or achieve that is not completed
B. God wants to reveal Himself to us, becoming more intimate the more we seek Him
C. Job realized this after claiming what he knew about God in his ordeal (Job 42: 5), and Paul, zealous for God and educated about God learned that he did not know God when knocked off his horse (Acts 9: 5)
D. In ministering, do we use testimony of others to demonstrate a character of God or one of our own? In some instances He becomes the Lord, some else’s God, and not our God. Saul, in his prideful disobedience was chasten by God through Samuel. Suddenly, to Saul, God became Samuel’s God rather than Saul’s. (1 Sam 15: 30)
E. Moses spoke to God in burning bush; experienced the power of God; was a vessel of God for deliverance of His people; spoke to God face to face; and yet wanted more of God (Exod 33:18).
F. Should we be any less in our desire to know God
G. Many times God reveals a new identity to us in our times of trials; could we be missing this opportunity.
III. When?
A. God reveals more about Himself to us when He sees we need it
B. Exod 6: 2-3: God was El Shaddai (Almighty God) to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob but YHWH to Moses
C. Acts 9: 4-5: Jesus reveals Himself to Saul as Saul was kicking against will of God
D. Throughout the Bible we can find situations where God’s identity is revealed to man. In our testimonies, does it include times when God was our Jehovah Shalom or Jehovah Rapha or Jehovah Tsedkenu or El Saddai or Elohim?
IV. Who?
GOD will do it.
As an illustration, let us peruse Genesis. Keep in mind that Genesis is a narrative book, with a narrator talking to us, sometimes quoting people and God, and other times relating to us the situations. Moses, to whom God revealed Himself as I AM that I AM and YHWH, is the author, ie narrator, of the first 5 books of our Old Testament. Translators have tried to communicate the God’s name (YHWH or Jehovah), written in capital letters (LORD or GOD) to distinguish this from titles or identity (Adonai – Lord) or (Elohyim – God)
A. Genesis 1: God is Elohyim (which is plural of Elah or El) supporting God as FAther, Son, and Spirit. Here Elohyim is the Always existing God of creation.
B. Genesis 2: As God works to establish man and a relationship with man, He is YHWH God or Jehovah Elohyim
C. Genesis 3: Our LORD God, Jehovah Elohyim, is referred to as only Elohyim by the serpent.
D. Genesis 4: Eve attribute her first child, Cain, as from YHWH; yet, when Seth is born, she calls HIM, only Elohyim. At the end of the chapter, though, man seeks YHWH.
E. Genesis 5 & 6: Enoch and Noah walk with Elohyim
F. Genesis 7: 16: Noah obeyed Elohyim but it was YHWH that closed them up in the ark
G. Genesis 14: 18: Melchezidek exposes God as El Elyon – God most high; the supremecy of our God
H. Genesis 15: 2, 8: Adonai, a title of respect or honor (not unlike our reference to a judge as ‘your honor’) that is used for both man (Sarah used it for Abraham Gen 18: 12) and for God. When used for God, most often in combination with YHWH (Lord GOD – Adonai Jehovah).
I. Genesis 16: 13: Hagar, pregnant with Ishmael, flees the harsh treatment of Sarai. No evidence that she sought or even knew the God of her Master, Abraham. Yet, God comes and speaks to her about her situation. He is El Roi (the God who sees – in our situation or trial when we don’t even seek Him)
J. Genesis 17: 1: God introduces Himself as El Shaddai (see II.B. above) or God Almighty. It is worth noting the Shaddai is of feminine gender referring to the many breasted God, as in the ultimate nurturer who sees and understands need and is also capable of meeting those needs in a timely fashion
K. Genesis 18: 25: Abraham is negotiating for sparing of Lot’s life as God is in route to destroy Sodom and Gomorrha. He recognizes that God has the ultimate decision and refers to God as the Judge (Shaphat
L. Genesis 21: 33: Abraham and Abimelek make peace at Beersheba and Abrahm calls God El Olam (Everlasting God)
M. Genesis 22: 14: God provides the sacrifice to take Isaac’s place on the altar. God is Jehovah Jireh (YHWH provideth)
N. Genesis 31: 13: God informs Jacob that He is the God of the house of God (Bethel) that Jacob named for the presence of the Lord was there.
O. Genesis 49: 24: Jacob is blessing all his children; he comes to Joseph and explains that Joseph will be strong, but the strength will be from the Mighty One (Abir); who is also the shepherd (Ra ah) and the stone or rock (Eben).
V. Where?
A. in your life and in mine
B. through your testimony and through mine
C. In our current situation
D. Andre Crouch wrote song ‘Through it All,’ where through it all, I’ve learned to trust in God, to depend upon the Lord. The third verse is relevant for us today.
I thank God for the mountains; I thank Him for the valleys;
I thank Him for the storms He brought me through.
For if I never had a problem, I’d never know my God could solve them,
I’d never know what faith in God can do.
E. Do not miss what God is revealing about Himself to you today…keep Getting to Know our God