Why Should I Get to Know God?

It’s been a while — over a year and a half. A lot has happened in that time. I’ve gone over a year without a full seizure, but that doesn’t mean life is all sunshine and rainbows. I’ve learned the importance of knowing God and building my relationship with Him.

A verse I’ve been meditating on a lot recently is Psalm 9:10, “And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.” Those who know God, who know His name well, trust Him. It’s impossible to trust someone you do not know.

What does it mean to know God?

When you dig into the meaning of the Hebrew word translated “know” used in Psalm 9, you find the word means “to know by experience.” It’s the idea of having experience with someone and knowing how they will act based on that experience.

An example of someone who knew God like this is Abraham. In Genesis 22, Abraham obeys God’s instructions to take Isaac to Moriah and offer Isaac as a sacrifice. When Isaac asks where the sacrificial lamb is, Abraham says, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son” (v. 8). Abraham knew by experience that God would keep His promises to him through Isaac (see Heb. 11:17-18). He knew his God.

So, how do you grow to know God?

Well, how do you get to know anyone? You listen to them. God has revealed Himself to us in His Word. He’s told us what He’s like. We just have to look.

A method I have started using is reading through the Psalms and color coding. I use one color to underline characteristics of God and another to underline actions of God. Occasionally, I find references to the Messiah, and I use another color for those. Other colors specify characteristics of the righteous and the wicked and the actions of each. It’s helpful to be able to look at a psalm and see at a glance what it says about God.

Another way to get to know God is to keep a categorized notebook of Scripture references that describe Him. I first heard about this from my friend Mardi Collier. She outlines her notebook method in her book What Do I Know About My God? As she reads her Bible and comes across a passage that describes an attribute of God (e.g., God is love, God is sovereign, etc.), she writes it in that section of her notebook. The fun part about this method is you can be as creative as you want to be. If you’re into bullet or art journaling, create a special journal just for this. If you’d rather a digital version, Office OneNote is a great app for this.

Why should you know God?

More important than the method is getting started. Knowing God is important because the foundation of my life depends upon it (see Matt. 7:24–27). When suffering comes, it reveals my foundation, what I’m placing my faith and trust in. If I’ve been trusting myself and suffering comes crashing in, I now know my foundation isn’t solid. My health isn’t invulnerable. My career isn’t invincible. I am not superwoman. And I become anxious, worried and fearful.

But if my foundation is the almighty God, I respond to suffering in peace and confidence. I know God is in control, so I rest without worry. I know He loves me, so I don’t fear. I know that He is all wise, so I trust in His guidance and don’t fret myself into a migraine over tomorrow.

Knowing God makes all the difference. Get to know God now so when suffering comes, you’ll be ready.