Experiencing God

For the most part, I think that most people are uncomfortable, if not afraid about the subject of experiencing God.  I know that when someone tells me, “God spoke to me” I feel myself tense up and want to walk away from this person.

However, James tells me, “[I] should be quick to listen, slow to speak…” (James 1:19) and Paul warns, “Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all…” (I Thessalonians 5:20-21).  Other Biblical writers give us the same message, but they also show us that God is involved personally not only in the lives of His people, but in the world around us.

David invites us to “Taste and see that the LORD is good…” (Psalms 34:8).  I cannot think of a better word than “experience” to replace the word, “taste.”  In the New Testament, Peter tells believer to “crave spiritual milk…now that you have tasted that the LORD is good.” (I Peter 2:2-3).

Remember when Paul wrote, “…we despaired of life itself.  Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death” (II Corinthians 1:8-9)?  Remember how he started off his letter?  Paul writes, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,  the  Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles…our comfort abounds through Christ” (II Corinthians 1:3-5).  I hear Paul saying that like despair, we can experience the comfort of God in abundance.

When Jesus (Matthew 5:11-12) and James (James 1:2) tells us to rejoice in our trials, have you ever thought to yourselves, “Yeah, right…” Yet, Peter affirms that in trials, we can be “filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy” (I Peter 1:8).

I have a hard time wrapping my mind around this joy, however Luke helps me by showing me what it looks like.  In Acts 5:40-41, after the apostles were beaten and threatened, the scriptures tell us that the apostles went away “rejoicing.”  Then in Acts 16, after Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown into prison, we are told that at midnight, they were found to be “praying and singing hymns to God” (Acts 16:25).  I am quite confident they weren’t singing, “Nobody knows the trouble we’ve seen…” because all the other prisoners were listening to them.

But that’s not all.  Scripture says that we can experience a peace that transcends all understanding (Philippians 4:7), a love that is beyond knowledge (Ephesians 3:19), and a life that is abundant and overflowing (John 4:4, 10:10).

The Bible tells and shows us even more about experiencing God, but there are three things that I’ve concluded.  First, experiencing God is supernatural—it’s outside the realm of what we can personally acquire or achieve.  It has to be given to us by God Himself.

Secondly, scripture was given to reveal God.  Ultimately, Jesus came to make God known and to invite us into a relationship with Him.  Listen to the invitation from the One whom the Father sent:

Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Finally, I hear scripture making a distinction between knowing God and experiencing God.  Experiencing God should not be our goal.  Experiencing God is the fruit or the consequence of knowing God. In Philippians 3:4-11, isn’t Paul saying that he wants to understand all of his experiences—his joys and sorrows; his triumphs and defeats in the context of knowing God?  I hear Paul saying if it’s not about God or knowing Him, its value can be found in the sewer.

I could be wrong.  I am often accused of having SLD—selective listening disorder.   What do you think?