Knowing God
Knowing God
By: J.I. Packer
This is one of my favorite books of all time.
It’s one you will read time after time and still see and learn new things. If you do not currently own this book, you must buy it immediately! (This post is updated with the new 2023 reprint cover which also includes more Americanized language than the original 1973 version.)
C.H. Spurgeon said, “I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead.”
And so we have this wonderful, Scripture-rich, book. It begins with the distinction between knowing about God and actually knowing God. Moving our knowledge from our head to our heart. Taking what we learn about God into praise to God.
This is a constant reminder to me, as I am one who loves learning and knowing things. If all I do is harbor knowledge and puff myself up as one who “knows” things, that does nothing for my actual relationship with the Lord. That is pride, and God has no use for one who is self-sufficient.
J.I. Packer says, “You can have all the right notions in your head without ever tasting in your heart the realities to which they refer.”
“And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”- John 17:3
What’s more, not only do we seek to know God, but He knows us! One of the most basic and universal desires of humanity is to be known and to be accepted. We don’t dare share everything about ourselves for fear of what others might do or say. So can we ever truly feel known? And the answer is ‘yes’, not by our peers or even our spouse, but we are known to the nth degree by God.
One of my most favorite quotes of all time [can you tell how much I like this book yet?]:
“This is momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love, and watching over me for my good. There is tremendous relief in knowing that his love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself. There is equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that for some unfathomable reason, he wants me as his friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given his son to die for me in order to realize this purpose.”
To know and be known. Entirely—past, present, and future. And to be loved all the more. Loved enough that Jesus would go to the cross to make a way to be with us before we ever did anything remotely worthy of it. (And you guys, this is just the first couple chapters.)
The general outline of the book is described here: “Knowing God involves first: listening to God's word and receiving it as the Holy Spirit interprets it, in application to oneself; Second: noting God's nature and character, as his word and works reveal it; Third: accepting his invitations, and doing what he commands; Fourth: recognizing and rejoicing in, the love that he has shown in thus approaching one and drawing one into this divine fellowship.”
The rest of part one covers each person of the triune Godhead- God the Father, God incarnate, and the Holy Spirit.
J.I. Packer spends part two exploring attributes of God: his love, grace, truth, wisdom, justice, wrath, sovereignty, jealousy, and majesty. He speaks of God unchanging. He is from everlasting to everlasting (Psalm 93:2).
His character doesn’t change. His truth doesn’t change. His ways, His purposes, and His Son, do not change.
A constant. Reliable, unflappable, trustworthy.
That’s our God.
Packer titles part two ‘Behold your God’. I love that! Everything we learn about God is awesome—not the Lego Movie everything-is-awesome awesome, but the awesome where you sit in slack-jawed awe; it is unfathomable that all of these things are who God is all the time, and He, in all his glory, cares about us.
Behold your God.
“The world dwarfs us all, but God dwarfs the world… our minds reel; our imaginations cannot grasp it; when we try to conceive of unfathomable depths of outer space, we are left mentally numb and dizzy. But what is this to God?” (Isaiah 40: 26)
“Wisdom without power is pathetic, a broken reed; power without wisdom would be merely frightening; but in God boundless wisdom and power are united, and this makes him utterly worthy of our fullest trust.”
“Misunderstanding what the bible means when it says that God is love (1 John 4:8-10), they think that God intends a trouble-free life for all, irrespective of their moral and spiritual state, and hence they conclude that anything painful and upsetting (illness, accident, injury, loss of job, the suffering of a loved one) indicates either that God’s wisdom, or power, or both, have broken down, or that God, after all, does not exist. God's wisdom is not, and never was, pledged to keep a fallen world happy, or to make ungodliness comfortable.”
“When we looked at God’s wisdom we saw something of his mind, when we thought of his power we saw something of his hand and his arm, when we considered his word, we learned about his mouth, but now, contemplating his love, we are to look into his heart.” [For more on the heart of God, read Dane Ortlund’s book Gentle and Lowly]
“The grace of God is love freely shown towards guilty sinners, contrary to their merit and indeed in defiance of their demerit. It is God showing goodness to persons who deserve only severity, and had no reason to expect anything but severity…once a man is convinced that his state and need are as described, the gospel of grace cannot but sweep him off his feet with wonder and joy. For it tells how our Judge has become our Savior.”
“The final proof that God is a perfect moral Being, not indifferent to questions of right and wrong, is the fact that He has committed Himself to judge the world… It has its frightening implications for godless men, it is true; but its main thrust is as a revelation of the moral character of God, and an imparting of moral significance to human life.”
“God is good to all in some ways, and to some in all ways.”
Part three then is the application. The gospel message. What are we called to? What does it mean and look like to be a Christian? What about the pain and the hardship? Is Christ enough for us?
“Have you been holding back from a risky, costly course to which you know in your heart God has called you? Hold back no longer. Your God is faithful to you, and adequate for you. You will never need more than He can supply, and what He supplies, both materially and spiritually, will always be enough for the present.”
I truly believe this book will change your life. Truth upon truth upon truth, every page will not only expand your knowledge about God, but it will more importantly draw your heart closer to Him as you consider His character and His heart. And this is not because J.I. Packer is the man (although he was a phenomenal writer and theologian), but because this book is grounded in the life-changing and unmatched truths of the Bible.
“Lord, where else can we go? You have the words of eternal life.” John 6:68
“From current Christian publications you might think that the most vital issue for any real or would-be Christian in the world today is church union, or social witness, or dialogue with other Christians and other faiths, or refuting this or that-ism, or developing a Christian philosophy and culture, or what have you…the issues themselves are real and must be dealt with in their place. But it is tragic that, in paying attention to them, so many in our day seem to have been distracted from what was, is, and always will be the true priority for every human being—learning to know God in Christ.”
Know and behold your God.
**Received a copy of the book from Crossway in exchange for an honest review**
[I had previously read and reviewed this book, but this post is updated with the new cover that was put on the reprint. Original copyright is 1973, this is the 2023 edition— content is the same. This reprint is a hardcover book and is beautiful. My other copy was worn and the cover coming off so I’m very happy to have this new book. I know it will be read many times in years to come!]
