BlogPost #5: Living with Tozer's God

"This is the covenant that I will make...after those days, I will be their God, and they

shall be my people...for ALL will KNOW ME.” Heb 8:10-11

Who would you most like to know?

In our initial blog posts, we have talked about the potential, first, of 'knowing God' and the awesome revelation that would result, and second, the equally amazing fact that this awesome God obviously desires to be known...by us! Today we need to ask the obvious question: Do we really want to know God? Do we want that kind of personal relationship with Him? What would that mean? What would that be like? If we can escape for just a while from our little microcosmic (i.e self-focused) worldview, the answer to that question could revolutionize our lives!

What does it mean to 'know God'? Rather than getting mired in sometimes murky theological concepts, let's keep it simple and practical and ask the question this way, 'How do you 'know' anyone'? I've often found it amazingly fruitful to just look at scripture and ask questions the way I normally would to determine the meaning of any other statement.The vast majority of the time, the intended meaning is the normal meaning we use every day. This would make sense since the Bible (especially the New Testament) was written in the common language of the people trading in the streets all over the Roman Empire. If the Bible was written for all the people, then it only stands that it must be able to be understood by anyone, from peasant to king. 'Keeping it simple' has great merit in this context.

So, how do you 'know' anyone? There are many ways...and these lead to very different levels of 'knowledge' in personal relationships. How do you know anyone? Words. Actions. Reactions. Interactions (do you see the common element?). In a word, experience. Normally, this implies contact, the variable is how close (i.e. intimate) is the contact.

Personal knowledge has different levels of depth. I can know facts about someone. For instance, I could read a 'bio' of my son's basketball coach. You could call this the 'internet' or magazine level of knowledge. Factual, but not very personal. Even better, I can watch him 'in action' and see how he acts and reacts with my son and others. This is a deeper level of knowledge since it's first-hand. It's also spontaneous, not a 'controlled' situation. It's real and personal, but still not what you'd consider 'close', much less intimate.

Best of all (if I really want to know someone intimately), would be to experience all of this in the context of their personal dealings with me. For example, if I were the assistant coach or had some function where I had daily interactions with the coach and was involved in making team decisions, setting team goals and objectives, developing game strategy, etc., this would give me a lot of 'experiential' knowledge of who the Coach really is.Combining all three levels of experience, I might be able to say I really 'know' him.

You get the idea. Intimacy demands more than facts or 'objective truth', it demands experience. Now let's apply this in a little more fun way.

Who Would You Most Like to Know?

Let's make it a little more 'real' and practical. Who would you like to know? If there were no obstacles and you could choose three special people to have a close personal relationship with, whom would you choose? For our purposes here, let's exclude family from the options... and also the Lord Jesus (since knowing Him is kind of the purpose of this whole exercise!). Stop a moment and think of three people you would like to know personally. How would you go about it? You should also ask yourself 'why' you would want to know them. It will help clarify your choice. These people can be contemporary folks or historical figures.
[Note: This little exercise could really help your pursuit of intimacy with God! You'll begin to think about 'knowing God' in different way if you do this.]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If there were no obstacles and you could choose three special people

to have a close personal relationship with, whom would you choose?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Let me interject here something that may be obvious to some, but not to others. You don't usually hear people talk about wanting to 'know God' like you would any other person. If He wanted us to relate to Him differently than we realte to other people, He would have created us differently!

The truth is, most folks don't have a clue how to go about getting to 'know God'. That's the point of this exercise. Think about knowing God like you would anyone else. Otherwise, the experience may always be a mystery and will likely never satisfy you or worse, you give up trying.

So, what three would you choose? Some would choose the Apostle Paul or Hudson Taylor or Billy Graham. Some might choose Einstein or Edison or some great computer whiz. Those more sports-oriented might choose Michael Jordan or Bobby Jones or Lou Gehrig. The more literary-oriented might want to know George Eliot or Dante or Tom Clancy. What about Oprah? Obviously, there's lots of choices. What are your choices? [Write them down.]  Now ask yourself 'why'?

Why would you want to know them? What motivated your choice? Did you just want to know what made them 'tick'? What motivated them? To find out how they did what they did? Did you want to learn something from them that you could use to become like them? Did you already admire them for some reason?

Most serious people will choose someone they admire, first, then possibly someone they perceive as having something special in their lives, whether it's some particular knowledge they have or some special skill they've mastered. Whether they realize it or not, what they often want is to become a disciple of that person. They see real value in that person's life...and they would love to have that 'value' incorporated into their lives. In it's simplest form, this is what true Christian discipleship is supposed to look like. So this is relevant.

This post is going to be too long and we don't want to make it laborious. Next week we'll finish the application. But we encourage you to think through this little exercise. It's really a different way of thinking...and makes the whole idea of seeking to know God a lot more practical. It's important to remember that HE created us in a way that would allow us to know Him (Adam had no problem!). Having fallen into sin changes how we think about Him, not the process of actually knowing Him. Sometimes, we tend to 'spiritualize' things to the point that there's no way they can fit into our daily lives and be of any practical use. God wants to be known!

Also...if you want to make it really interesting, ask your spouse what three people they would choose to meet. Then ask your children. And don't forget to ask 'why' they would choose these three. Their answers could make for some very interesting, not to mention revealing, conversations!

Until next time....

BlogPost #4: Living with Tozer's God

"For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he." 

 Prov. 23:7

What's In A Name?

If I said to you, 'That family has a good name', you'd immediately understand what I was saying. It would likely include some element of 'honor' or 'highly respected'. But, what makes a name special? Think about it. Is there anything special about John Smith or Mary Jones? No. Even the name of 'John Doe' is special only because it's become the 'go to' name for the nameless!

On the other hand, when you hear the name 'Michael Jordan' or 'Bill Gates' or 'Warren Buffett' or 'Billy Graham' or 'Mother Teresa'...almost immediately your perception changes. These names are not considered common, they are revered by many. But, why?

Great people are identified by their names. Sometimes, it's a nickname (like 'the Babe' for the great baseball player, or 'Air Jordan' because of the way Michael Jordan seemed to be able to float in the air as he leaped toward the basket to slam home a dunk). We are, of course, excluding what we often call 'celebrities'; famous by no means equals 'greatness'. The infamous are famous, but for the wrong reasons. But, great people are normally deemed 'great' primarily for two reasons. The answer is pretty well summed up in two words: character and accomplishments. 

In this sense, God has chosen to reveal Himself just like other people. He is known and identified by His Names. The Scriptures are literally filled with examples. In fact, this is the primary way He has revealed Himself. Think about it, God has dozens of names, but He has no first name (at least not that we know of, like Tom or Jack). All of His Names either represent some element of His Personal Character or His Accomplishments (i.e. His deeds).

Point to Note: God has clearly gone to great lengths to reveal Himself to mankind. Why would He do this? The answer is simple? He wants to be known! It's why He created us in the first place.

There are two examples of this in Scripture which can be clearly seen. The first is in the first two chapters of Genesis. Chapter 1 begins as we all know, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth...". Here 'God' is revealed as the single source of all creation. You may or may not believe that, but it's clearly what the Scriptures declare (and other Scriptures reinforce this declaration).

Now you can get very technical and 'nerdy' about all this and end up, as Tozer might say, missing the sublime point of it all. If the Scriptures are true, then this 'Creator'-person is the unique being of all time. If it's true that He has created this universe with all its majesty and complexity (despite our best efforts to abuse and destroy it), and if it's true that He holds it all together and causes it to maintain its 'operational integrity' (season after season, day after day)...then what must the majesty of the person who did it all actually be like! That's the point we dare not miss. He is an awesome God!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In this sense, 

God has chosen to reveal Himself just like other people.

 He is known and identified by His Names.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the second chapter of Genesis, we see the creation of mankind, Adam and Eve. There is a marked transition in Gen. 2:4 from 'God' to 'LORD God' (which lasts through the rest of the chapter). What is the point of this change?

What happens is that now 'God' reveals that He is personally involved in both the creation of mankind and the oversight and direction of his life. As we learn in Ch. 3, this meant a daily experience where Adam met with the LORD God personally. Again, consider this in the light of who it is that Adam (using our modern vernacular) has 'friended', or more accurately, the LORD God has 'friended' Adam. Here we see a whole new facet of God, not an impersonal 'creator', but a craftsman who can breathe life into His creation. And with this new revelation and new experience comes a new name...the 'LORD God'.

 The 'God of Israel'

Flash forward a couple of thousand years to the time when God decided He was going to fulfill His promise to Abraham to bring His chosen people into the 'Promised Land'. His descendants were enslaved in Egypt and had no hope nor any expectation of being released. It was at this point that God made a visit to Moses in the desert to tell him that He had heard the cry of His chosen people and was going to deliver the Israelites and He was going to use Moses to do it.

The passage below is the encounter between God and Moses when Moses came back to the LORD to complain about the results of his first meeting with Pharaoh. Things definitely did not go as Moses expected! Pharaoh was angry and Israel was worse off than before! Neither Moses nor the children of Israel were happy campers. Yet, God seems to think everything is going as planned. Though confused and disappointed, Moses still did what God told him to do.

What Moses didn't realize was that God was now ready to reveal Himself in a new way, as 'Jehovah'. Pay special attention to v. 2-3.

Ex 6:1-8 NASB

6:1Then the LORD said to Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he will let them go, and under compulsion he will drive them out of his land."

2 God spoke further to Moses and said to him, "I am the LORD;

3 and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name , LORD (i.e. Jehovah) I did not make Myself known to them.

4 "I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned.

5 "Furthermore I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant.

6 "Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, "I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.

7 "Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

8 "I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession; I am the LORD.'" 

Here's the Point: What a promise! Grasp the picture here; Egypt is the most powerful nation on earth. God is going to deliver Israel from Egypt, something which (humanly speaking) is impossible. But, remember, this is God speaking. He has a purpose in this. He has decided to pick out a special 'people' for Himself and He has chosen the Israelites to be that people.  

In a unique and special way, He is going to be their God. The experience of this mighty deliverance is meant to be the indisputable evidence and proof of who He is and His commitment to Israel. This is meant to be a very special relationship, which no one else will have with God! To highlight this, He has chosen to reveal Himself in a new way with a new name, Jehovah. This is the name which only God's 'chosen people' can use to address Him.

It's also important to note that this miraculous deliverance was meant to be sufficient proof for both the generation delivered out of Egypt and all future generations of God's that He can and will bless, protect and prosper them, if they will obey Him. It is the sad testimony of Scripture that this 'chosen people' simply refused to believe in their God.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To highlight this (new relationship), He has chosen to reveal Himself

in a new way with a new name, Jehovah. This is the name which

only 'God's chosen people' can use to address Him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The point, again, is that God did the impossible simply to reveal that He could. I cannot overemphasize how crucial this revelation is! Meditate on this. We are now in the place as God's 'chosen ones', at least until the 'church age' is over. Is your God as big as Israel's? Has He delivered you from your bondage? Do you believe He can? If your God is not awesome, you are in deep spiritual trouble. Why?

You will never trust in a God that you don't truly believe is bigger than you, bigger than all your problems and, most important of all, cares deeply about you and your life. If you don't see that in your God, you won't commit yourself to Him. That's just the way we're wired.

That's enough for now. But, spend this week asking yourself the question, 'How big is my God? Does my life really reflect that I trust Him? Do I follow Him? Do I obey His commands? What evidence do I have in my life that supports my claim of 'believing in God'. Or, in reality, am I more of an agnostic (someone who just doesn't know) 'posing' as a Christian?

Remember, "...As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he". Your life is a living testimony of what you really believe. You know the truth...so does God.

And, yes...we'll get to Knowledge of the Holy soon. The truth is, we've been in the first sentence of page one since we started. To paraphrase Tozer, if you don't think accurately about God, the rest really doesn't matter. Until next time...

BlogPost #3 - Chapter 1 

 'Living with Tozer's God'

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" Matt. 5:8

Think about that statement. Would you want to 'see God'? If so, why? Would it be a great desire or  just idle curiosity? As we have discussed, the truth is that we now live in a world where multitudes of people really couldn't care less about seeing God. When you consider the annals of history (which most folks don't), that's really a stunning thought. 'Seeing God', interacting with God, living with God, pleasing God; these have all been essential elements of the mindset of man as far back as history records it...and beyond. Even when men didn't seem to have a 'formal' religion, there was always the idea that 'gods' controlled the world and you needed to know what to do to keep them happy...or bad things might happen! Only in the last 150 years has there been a serious attempt to ridicule and 'prove' that God does not exist. One might ask whether this is evolution or devolution...are we evolving or devolving?

Now, if evolution is true, then the idea that 'seeing God' or 'knowing God' has any real value is ludicrous. Evolution and the claims of the Bible about God cannot both be true. It's just not an option. But, if God does exist, then this issue is of the greatest importance. since we will 'see Him'...and of even greater importance is, what will happen when we do!  Will He be pleased with me?

The central issue then becomes a moral question, 'How should we prepare to see or meet God?'. Is there any way to know? Does the fact that we are apparently flawed, immoral beings or worse even matter? This is where the proverbial 'line of demarcation' is drawn in pursuit of the knowledge of God. Do all roads lead to God? Is sincerity in the pursuit all that is required to succeed? Or, is there just one path and all the other paths lead to places that we didn't want to go or even worse, nowhere? Can we know which is which?

Christianity says there is one way to God and that the Bible clearly explains what (really who) it is and how to find it. You may disagree with this, but you can't argue that this isn't what the Bible teaches. That is indisputable.

Back to the verse at the top of the page. Assuming He exists, what would you give to 'see God', the 'one true and living God'? The scriptures declare that no man can see God and live, yet this is one of the great promises to those who dwell in God's Kingdom: they will see God! Is this a contradiction? No. There's one condition, you must be 'pure in heart'. For the natural man, this is an insurmountable obstacle. The Scriptures declare that his heart is 'polluted', 'more deceitful than all else and desperately (terminally) sick'.

But, faith in God can change things, it can change anything and everything in a person's life. Ultimately, it changes the heart attitude towards God and that changes our experience of God. But, what would it be like to see God? Speak to Him? We know of one man who did and of the effect he had on others because of it.

'Face-to-Face' with God

Scripture tells us of one man God spoke to 'face-to-face': Moses. One of the great passages of the O.T. occurs in Exodus 33, (remember the tale of the golden calf debacle?). The irony is that this occurred while Moses was on the mountain getting the Ten Commandments from their God!). But, what I want to focus on is this. All the people in the camp knew that Moses had a special place where he met with God. Each time this happened, the people used to gather outside their tents and watch him enter the tent, it was a solemn moment. The people knew that 'there the Lord would speak with Moses face-to-face'.

But, think about it. How did the people really know that God met Moses there? I don't want to be cynical, but could they see inside inside the tent? How could they know that Moses didn't just go in and take a nap? The answer was quite clear...and visible to all.

The Bible records that after these meetings with God, Moses had to cover his face. Why? Because as a result of God speaking with Moses 'face-to-face, just a man speaks to his friend', Moses was allowed to gaze upon the glory of God and dwell in His Presence...and it left an afterglow, a lingering proof of his encounter with God and the people saw it. The Israelites knew this man was intimate with God. And because of this, they listened to what he had to say when he spoke to them. They knew it was a word from God. Please hear me now...

Whether we are conscious of it or not, we still seek after such a man. Not just a man who knows a lot about God, but a man who knows God Himself. When we go to church or listen to a recorded message, the unconscious need and hunger of the heart is to hear the voice of a man which bears the mark of a man who has been with God, waited in His presence and has a word from God. Such men are rare today and seem to be getting more rare.

Many believe A. W. Tozer was such a man. I am among them. His voice and message were bathed in a spirit of worship, as of a man who had truly been in the 'presence of God'. His raspy voice had a ring of 'authority' that few seem to possess...even in his day (back in the 1950's), much less in our modern world.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"When we go to church or listen to a recorded message, the unconscious need

and hunger of the heart is to hear the voice of a man which 

 bears the mark of someone who has been with God, 

waited in His presence and has a word from God."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yet he has left a written legacy for the church which has consistently met the need of hungry hearts in each new generation. 'Hearts' that don't just want information....rather hearts that need the encouragement that it is still possible to have an experience, a rich spiritual experience, an intimate encounter with God Himself. Tozer gives that encouragement. He speaks to the hungry heart.

One of the most compelling works Tozer has left us is a little gem of a book entitled 'The Knowledge of the Holy'. It's a book about the attributes or character qualities of God. I know, I know... 'attributes'....aren't those like 'Bible doctrines'? Should this be pronounced D.O.A. (Dead on Arrival)? That's what we'd normally expect from this, right? Boring. To be honest, some books of that type are. But, trust me, Tozer's approach is very different.

His approach is practical, not technical. It's like he's telling us about someone he really knows, a person he has spent time with, someone who has become an intimate confidante. And he wants to share his insight and experience so that we can have that same experience. That is his primary goal in the book.

You have to understand Tozer's motive, really his passion. Tozer has simply been overwhelmed by the awesomeness of who God is and the revelation of it in the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ. This truly incomprehensible truth has entered his soul; he has found what Paul calls the 'love which passes knowledge'. He has seen in a life-changing way the truth about God and what He has done in Christ.

He sees the heart of God and His desire for man. He has seen the passion which God has for lost souls...and now it's his passion. But, more than that, he 'knows' God and the experience has left him with a passion for all men to know Him. Why? Because he has discovered the reality of God's great desire for men to know Him and....more, to share His life and glory! This is his living reality. It's incredible, hard to believe, impossible to comprehend...but it's real!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"...Tozer... 'knows' God and the experience has left him with a passion for

all men to know Him. Why? Because he has discovered the reality of

God's great desire for men to know Him and...more, 

to share His life and glory!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To our great benefit, Tozer never recovered from this revelation. Tozer's goal in writing is to try to help any hungry soul to find and experience God, as a person, as a living daily reality, not a doctrine. Why is this so important?

It Will Determine Our Eternal Destiny 

 

Tozer's begins his book with this simple conclusion: It is a person's response to the revelation of the knowledge of God that will determine his eternal destiny. That is quite a statement! (In future posts we'll discover the truth of this statement.) But, assuming it is true, it's crucial that when a person is presented with the knowledge of who God is, that knowledge must be accurate. To miss the mark on this point can lead to spiritual and eternal ruin. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"A person's response to the revelation of the knowledge of God 

will determine his eternal destiny."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When a person finds and begins to understand something of the truth of who God really is, it's often a shocking revelation. That's not an exaggeration, it really doesn't compute. It makes no sense, at least not in terms of normal human understanding. Why? We have limits to our ability to understand even human things, how much more the God who created it all???

As Tozer first begins his attempt to try to reveal God to us, he begins with the awesomeness of God. The incomprehensibility of His greatness, the power, the majesty of the God of the Bible...it all leads to a somewhat mystical place. He tries to shake us out of the doldrums of our limited human concepts. We can't appreciate God in His glory if we limit Him to human understanding. This 'God' is real. This 'God' is not an energy, not a 'force', not an idea, HE is a Person. And He has constantly demonstrated His reality by His power and works, though our post-modernist, evolutionist culture denies this truth,

"The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands" (Ps 19:1).

His works declare not only His existence, but also that He has designed and planned it all with a specific purpose in mind. Who is this? What is His Name?

2 "Thus says the LORD who made the earth, the LORD who formed it to establish it, the LORD is His name 3 Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know." Jer 33:2-3

In future chapters, Tozer will give us great opportunities to see the character of God and His faithfulness in many different aspects. But, the most compelling point he will make about it is this: How a person responds to this knowledge will determine his eternal destiny. It is not idle knowledge, there is real personal accountability.

We'll see this in future posts. I would encourage you to get Tozer's book, The Knowledge of the Holy. It really is a good read. We do not intend this blog to just be a rehash of what you can read for yourself. Instead, we intend it to be a launching pad to further our pursuit of Him, to give us fuel which inspires us to actually stop and think about who God is and what that means to us in real life and how we can begin to 'see God'. This post is a little longer than future posts will be, but it seemed important to lay this groundwork as we started.

Think about the key question: What has been your response to the 'knowledge of God'? How has it impacted your life?

Until next time....

We have included a link to the best price we could find for the book.

[Full Disclosure: We may get a small commission if you buy through our link. As always, we appreciate the help.]