The God You Can Know

Written by Sarah Norman

I grew up in a house where God was known. God was talked about. God was read about. God was apart of my life long before I had any desire for Him, long before I knew he wanted me to know Him. For the longest time, God felt very far off. I knew Him by his rules. I knew of Him by the things I did wrong. It wasn't until I was much older that I realized God didn't just want me to know His rules, He wanted me to know Him. 

Moses went through most of his life only hearing about God. At some point, he learned he was not really Egyptian, but Hebrew and he knew the Hebrew people worshiped a God that was very different than the many gods he grew up knowing about. He knew God's name, but he didn't know God. With the knowledge he was Hebrew, he also knew he was different. He didn't fit in with the Egyptians he lived with, but he also didn't fit in with the Hebrew people. When he tried doing either, he failed. Eventually Moses fled to Midian to escape his temper and his sin. He was alone, trying to figure out who he was, what his purpose was. Much like people today, Moses was lost and needed guidance. Moses was working a menial job, seemingly without purpose. I've felt like that. Day after day, doing the same thing, changing the 10th diaper for the day, washing the same clothes that I washed just a few days ago, wiping down the same table sticky with syrup that I wiped down just yesterday. Life can seem devoid of purpose when all your looking at is your present circumstances, your eyes on yourself, your eyes on today, this life, this world. 

Moses was minding his business, tending his sheep one day. Then God stepped in. He looked up, took his eyes off his sheep, off his life that seemed pointless, off his menial tasks and saw a bush, burning with fire that did not consume it. God called out to Moses and told him to come no closer until he took off his sandals, for he was standing on Holy Ground. He was in the presence of God. How often have I been in the presence of God and not realized it? How often have I been in a Holy moment, or what could have been a Holy moment had I just took my eyes off my bleak circumstances and looked up, looked towards the God who sees me, looked towards the God who wants to know me and the God who wants me to know him? To the mom who slept just a few hours and is up for the 3rd time in a night nursing her little one, that is a Holy moment. To the dad who is for the 10th time that day trying to explain to his son what it means to be obedient, what it means to love God, and wondering if it will ever sink in, that is a Holy moment. To the nurse holding the hand of her 5th dying patient this week, that is a Holy moment. To the teacher who's student just had a light bulb go off and realized they could read, that is a Holy moment. To the friend who's been sharing God's love with their neighbor for years and just learned the neighbor has trusted in Jesus, that is a Holy moment. 

We will not all be Moses. We will not all lead a nation out of oppression, into the promised land. But we all have tasks set before us by God. We all have a purpose that God wants us to carry out here on this earth to further His kingdom. That purpose starts with knowing God. That purpose starts with taking time to get to know the God who wants us to know Him. 1 John 4:19 tells us “We love because he first loved us.” God went first. God has shown us his love, by sending his son to die for us, to save us from our sins. We are able to know and love him, because he first loved us. 

God does not ask much from us. At first, it seems like it, but he really doesn't. He asks us to try. That's it. He wants our effort and he will meet us in that effort. We can't know him without trying. He asks us to take our eyes off ourselves, to take our eyes off this world, off our menial day to day tasks and look up to Him. He wants to show us His kingdom perspective on the work he has given us to do. Whether that work is teaching little ones, putting in I.V.s, driving a truck, working at a factory, or whatever else God may have us doing on this earth, God wants us to see that it is kingdom work. We may not be Moses leading an Exodus, but as we get to know the God who wants us to know Him, we can live out our kingdom purpose here on earth.