Someone said that to know is one of the greatest things in life. Someone thought it meant knowing a lot of things.
Put it this way. Some people seek to attain information and collect facts. As they do that and wield it to their advantage, they believe they acquire knowledge. In the eyes of many in the world, they have. Information about human behaviour, information about cultural trends and the ability to utilise all of that to impress, manipulate, influence and control. You can tell someone what they did last year and what that means for them in the future. You can list accomplishments and failings and profile someone that way. This appeals to people and gives them the idea that you have knowledge. It does not impress God, and it’s not what He offers when He encourages us to live by the Spirit of Knowledge.
Intimacy. That’s what God means by knowledge. It’s relational and spiritual. It’s a capacity that delves far deeper than information and facts and gets to the heart of identity in a manner that’s not just for exploration and observation but for diving into and becoming one with the object of study. This is not academic or intellectual, although it can express itself through those means – those are surface expressions of something at greater depth. The Spirit of Knowledge helps us to apply the invitation to search the unsearchable and truly have experiential encounters with God that reveal Him and, as a result, all that is real in Him and through Him.
Relational. How do we relate? Emotions, for sure. Thoughts help definitely. What God does for us is remind us that it’s His breath in us that enables us to be. So we relate in Spirit and in truth. For who He is in the way He is. It’s totally dependent on Him. It’s why we need His Spirit to relate. As a result, we can claim no credit for how we grow in knowing Him. His grace enables us to connect and relate to Him, and His Spirit of Knowledge, flowing through us, connects us to Him and to others who likewise desire to truly know who He is.
It is the Spirit of Knowledge that cultivates the desire to know Him. It’s that drive based on how all reality is only what it is because of Him. It’s that drive and engagement by the Spirit of Knowledge that also helps us appreciate what it means to connect for real, not just have heightened emotions or a sense of being able to articulate in clever terms and develop academic qualifications on the matter. Spirit and truth together open up the way to find rest and peace. To know God is to be aware that He is peace and seeks to extend peace to all who truly know Him. Experiencing that in Him is why we become peacemakers as we reflect what we know of Him.
Thank God for the wonderful Holy Spirit. Without Him, we can never know God. With Him, we have that Spirit of Knowledge that helps us to truly appreciate who God really is, not what tradition says, not what critics say, not what an institution says, not what my feelings and thoughts want to settle with, the greater depth of who He reveals Himself to be in His Word, in His Son, in Spirit. We don’t have to know much, but by His Spirit we get to know God, and maybe He is all we need to know.
For His Name’s Sake
C. L. J. Dryden
Shalom
