Do You Know That You Know?

I just opened the window in my study and am sitting here enjoying the fragrances and sights of a beautiful spring day here in northern California.  The lawn crew just came through and the scent of freshly cut grass is wafting on the wind that is flowing into my room.  That is one thing that I miss, now that I am not engaged in my lawn care business anymore.  But I can still enjoy the benefits as I gaze out the window and look at the trim green lawns, the manicured shrubbery, the budding trees and the bright blue sky.  Ah… God is so good.  Days like today make it easy to see and acknowledge “the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” (Psalm 27:13 KJV)

But what about those days, like the one that I had yesterday?  How can one see and/or believe for His goodness when you’ve just received a devastating report, or when nothing seems to be going your way at all?  The answer is actually simple.  It’s the doing that takes a little time and effort though.  The solution lies in following the example of Abraham in Romans 4:20-21.  The Bible says that “he didn’t doubt God’s promise out of a lack of faith.  Instead, giving honor to God, for the promise, he became strong because of faith and was absolutely confident that God would do what he promised.”  (God’s Word ©)

I believe the key to Abraham’s faith, and to ours as well, is found in Abraham’s lack of doubt that was based on his close and ongoing relationship with God.  Other translations say that Abraham never questioned or examined in unbelief the promise of God and was therefore fully persuaded, or filled with the conviction of God’s ability and willingness to fulfill His promise.  How did the father of our faith come to this place in his understanding?  He took the time to “know” God.  It says that he “became” or “grew” strong.  This is a process that happens and becomes stronger the more one pursues their relationship with God. 

This scripture infers that we, like Abraham, can become “so firm in the persuasion of God’s ability to fulfill His promise, that no difficulties shake us.” (Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary)  In other words as Oral Roberts always said, you will “know that you know” what God will do.  This was something that was very important to my children as they matured into adults.  They wanted people (especially family members) who knew them as kids to know them as grown adults.  They wanted them to see the growth and maturity that had occurred in their lives.  I’ve mentioned before about the negative counsel that my youngest daughter had received from family members when she decided to stay in Oklahoma on her own, in order to complete her third year in the School of Worship program at Bible School.

While I believe the intent was good, the motive and reasoning used by those who tried to dissuade her were based on information that was totally out of sync with, and ignorant of the events that had occurred in her life over the previous two years.  They had not known of the hours of honest and heart wrenching conversation and prayers that had gone on between my daughter and God, between me and God and then between the two of us as we spent time discussing the hurts of moving away from home, and then the transitions that were occurring in her as our heavenly Father began to show her His special care and plans for her life.  They did not see the growing maturity that we witnessed in her.  They did not “know that they knew” like we did, through the trials and tribulations and then the joys of self discovery.  There was not an on going relationship that enabled the kind of understanding and trust that we had in her ability to make the right decision.

Did I like the idea of her staying in Oklahoma while we moved back to California?  No!  Did I know that it was the right decision that was blessed by the hand of God?  Yes, and therefore I had the peace and the confidence that she would do fine… which she has!  You know, you can be related to someone by family lineage but that doesn’t mean that you necessarily have a close and on-going relationship with them.  One again, that type of relationship takes time and consistent effort.  As Christians we have a family lineage with God, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we are close enough to Him for us to be “absolutely confident” that He will do what is promised to us in His word.

Over the last two years my wife and I have dedicated ourselves to literally submerge ourselves in God’s word on healing throughout each and every day.  It was that familiarity and closeness to Him and His promises that enabled me to push past the exhaustion and pain that I was feeling last night (both physically and emotionally) and not put into action the fear and anxiety of the bad report we had received at the doctor’s office.  It was the results of the time and effort we are continually putting in that gave us the peace even though there wasn’t necessarily any physical evidence to support it.  It is because we “know that we know” that what He says He will do will eventually come to pass in my wife.

Is that the same kind of comforting knowledge that you posses?  If not… the answers are all in His instruction book.  Don’t give in to excuses but be determined to find and then take the time to personally develop an on going intimate and personal relationship with your heavenly Father.  It will become a part of your life that you will never regret.  Have a good day.  Enjoy the fragrances and sights of Spring.  Tune into His Word and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today?”