Knowing God

"My soul will boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing" Psalm 34:2-10.

One thing that struck me in these passages is the stark contrast between the usage of the word fear. In v.4 David talks about the Lord delivering him from his fears, those things which trouble/afflict him. Then in v.7 and 9 David talks about fear of the Lord. What a difference!! In v.9 this fear is reverential, worshipful, serving, respectful, honoring, awesome (these are some of the words that come to my mind). "...for those who fear him lack nothing" v.9

I was reading in my devotional bible this morning in connection with this Psalm. For a bit of background on the Psalm, David wrote this after ascaping King Achish in Gath when he pretended to be insane. He's talking about how faithful God remained during this time of trouble.

My devotional was talking about relationships and becoming aware of who your true friends are when you hit times of crisis. "As long as the relationship is enjoyable, they are with you all the way. But when it begins to demand some sacrifice on their part, they are hard to find. The ultimate measure of a friend is not where they stand in times of comfort and convenience, but where they stand in times of challenge and controversy. That being the case, apart from adversity of some kind, we would never know who our faithful friends really are."

It goes on to say, "In the same way we will never know in a personal way the faithfulness of Christ apart from adversity. As a result, our faith in Him would never increase. It would remain static. One of the primary reasons God allows us to face adversity is so that He can demonstrate His faithfulness and in turn increase our faith. If you are a believer, you have made a decision to trust Christ with your eternal destiny. But you will not experience His faithfulness in that particular area until you die. God wants more from you and for you than simple intellectual acknowledgement of His faithfulness. It is His will that you experience it now."

To me, this says while intellectually knowing Him is important, I must know him relationally, as my Heavenly father, not a distant relative. And, He wants this kind of loving, intimate relationship with me now. While the world around me will always disappoint me, my Father God never will. His faithfulness never never runs out!!!

It goes on to say, "If our lives are free from pain, turmoil, and sorrow, our knowledge of God will remain purely academic. Our relationship with Him could be compared with that of a great-great-grandfather about whom we have heard storeis, yet never met personally. We would have great admiration, but no intimacy, no fellowship. There would always be a sense of distance and mystery.
That is not the kind of relationship God wants with His children. Through the death of Christ, God has opened the way for us to have direct access to Him. He went to great lengths to clear the way so that nothing stands between Him and His children. There is potential now for intimacy between us and our Creator...
God is in the process of engineering circumstances through which He can reveal Himself to each of us. And both history as well our personal testimonies bear witness to the fact that it is in times of adversity that we come to a greater realization of God's incredible faithfulness to us"
(This was taken from How to Handle Adversity by Charles Stanley).
So dear sisters, who are we crying out to? The more we know about God and his awesome character the better we can cry out to him, as well as worship and praise Him, through any trial. I think that the more we know about God, the more naturally we will choose to cry out to him rather than the world. As I spend more and more time in His word, I am so so so much better equipped to handle any situation. God reveals Himself to me in trials, through scripture that He has stored up in my heart. And, that's beautiful!!!