To “Know” God: Part 1
How do we pass along our faith to the next generation? What is discipleship? What does it look like to disciple in the home? Who has the right answers?
There are thousands of opinions based on thousands of books, podcasts, blogs, and others. As believers in Jesus, we long to know the best way to raise our kids, teach them about Jesus, and instill a deep and abiding faith in them. Especially if we allow ourselves to become (or remain) paralyzed by the sheer magnitude of the task.
I submit that we go back to the basics, strip away all the trappings of culture, and return to the core of our faith and understanding of Almighty God: the Bible. After more than three years of reading God’s Word chronologically, I am convinced it contains all we need to parent and disciple our kids…and begins with "knowing" God.
The Bible is God’s special revelation of himself to his people. He desired Israel to know him and be restored into right relationship with him. The English language does us a great disservice in using the term “to know,” though. The Hebraic way of “knowing” God was yāḏa, which…
"connotes an intimate acquaintance with something. This is not so much
knowledge ‘about,” in the sense of an objective, mental apprehension.
Rather, a personal relationship is implied between an individual and
the object, whether a spiritual relationship as between worshipper
and deity, a social relationship between two people, or a sexual
relationship between husband and wife.”[1]
Such intimate knowledge of God was based on loving with all our hearts. Love like this is not an emotion-based sensation. In Biblical times, the heart was considered the source of a person’s intellect and will (Dt. 6:4–5). The bond created in this knowledge is covenantal and exclusive (Dt. 28:33, 34:10; Judg. 2:10, 21:12; Ruth 2:11; Hos. 8:1–2). Knowing God means we love him from our innermost being and will.
Too often, we know a lot about God. We know the stories, the parables, the miracles, the journeys, and the heroes of the faith; somewhere along the way, we lose sight of the relationship he longs to have with us. We also get caught up in doing everything we're supposed to do in the name of service to him; we go to church, read our Bibles once in a while, occasionally give money to the church or charity, serve in VBS, go to camp, and so on. All of these are good things! But, when they're divorced from an intimate relationship with God, how are we any different from the worldly "good people" around us?
God taught his people how they would more deeply know him, follow him, and teach their children about him. He desires a wholistic relationship with us, too! Knowing him, being in relationship with him is more than knowing the right things, doing the right things, or feeling the right things. If we want our kids' to have a deeper faith in him and seek to know God more deeply, we dig deeper into his Word and yāḏa him ourselves. It's a simple yet complex combination that we will continue to explore!
Join me next week as we unpack more about yāḏa!!
[1] Allen C. Myers, The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987), 631.
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