Reply To: Knowing God, Chapters 3 & 4

[Carolyn Hayes]

I am enjoying the book tremendously. However, I really haven’t read that Packer explains who God is! I don’t think anyone can do that because I believe everyone knows God in his/her own personal way. For instance, I experience God as someone who is constantly looking after me. Whenever I am in a “tizzy” looking for something valuable that I’ve lost, I immediately call upon Jesus saying, “Jesus, You know exactly where my —- is; please help me find it.” And, without skipping a beat, Jesus “unveils it for me. Now, I don’t think Jesus does this for everyone, and certainly not as often as He does it for me because I don’t think anyone misplaces their “valuables” as much as I do! Jesus is constantly helping me out with something. He seems to know exactly what I need – when I need it. I believe KNOWING God is something very personal . . . just as if two people know the same person . . . those two people experience that same person in many different ways. And, I wouldn’t want it any other way. I’m sure there are several people who know me; however, each of the people who know me, know me differently and in different capacities . . . now, let’s take that several steps further so that we can talk about God . . . You may have experienced God as a healer because you may have had a serious illness and you asked God to heal you . . . I have been experiencing knee pain for most of my elderly adult life and I have asked Jesus to heal my knee pain and He hasn’t – I have had praying friends pray for my knees, lay hands on my knees, and no healing has come. Therefore, I don’t know Jesus as a healer. However, I do know Jesus as a friend and a caretaker . . . I do know Jesus is always at my side – watching over me, and making sure that no harm comes my way. I just want everyone, including myself to know that Packer is not going to be able to explain who God is! We are human and God said in Isiah 55:8-9 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. And My ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.” This, in my humble opinion, tells me that Packer will not be able to explain God or tell us who God is or even give us an inkling of “knowing God.” For us humans, God is not really “knowable.” I seriously believe that we can “know about God” through His precious Word. and we can put all that we know together like pieces to a puzzle and use what we know about Him to form a picture in our mind’s eye of who He is. However, I don’t think we will ever really and truly “know Him” until we reach heaven . . . where Jesus will fully reveal Himself to us as our Bridegroom.