The Hebrew In Me

 

In contrast, for a Hebrew person - like Jesus - knowing something entailed experiencing it. 

Experiencing God ~ Henry Blackaby 

Are you a Greek or a Hebrew?  Well, lately I discovered that I indeed show Hebrew characteristics, especially when it comes to knowing and experiencing God.  In fact, I will go out on a limb and say that most believers fall into that category of the Greek concept of knowing the Father.  They are all too familiar with the biblical descriptions of the Lord, yet they have never tasted a personal relationship with Him.  The author Henry Blackaby outlines both the Greek and Hebrew aspects of knowing the Lord in his book Experiencing God.  As Blackaby tells it, the Greek idea of knowing God was based on academics.  The Greek could describe the scripture relating to the Lord.  The Greek could also describe very well the concept of God and what He is all about.  Of course, God is much more than this Greek concept of Him.  For the Hebrew, on the other hand, to know something meant to experience it first hand.  It is therefore interesting that when Jesus speaks of knowing the Father He is not speaking as a academic Greek, but as a Hebrew.  When Jesus speaks of the Father, He is not speaking as someone who has book knowledge of God, but as One who has personal experience of the Father.  This is why I proclaim that I have a bit of Hebrew in me, as I do not base my knowledge of the Father on the books I've read, but on my first hand experience of the Father in my life.  I understand that the man I am is not due to which self help books I may have studied, but the Fathers working in my life.  I have not just read the words of the apostle which describe the indwelling Christ in me, I live them each day {Paul To The Galatians 2:20}.  What good is knowing "Of" something and yet never experiencing it?  I have seen far too many college graduates display these attributes in recent years.  Far too many young people come out of our academic institutions being "Book smart" with little to no life experience.  In recent years, television personality Mike Rowe (of Dirty Jobs fame) has come out to challenge the conventional wisdom that a college degree is the best way to get ahead.  Rowe has spoken that many young people could benefit from apprentice programs which teach employable skills.  I tend to agree.  It would seem, then, that a majority of our young people adhere to the Greek world view.

When Jesus said that eternal life is knowing God - including God the Son, Jesus Christ - He did not mean that eternal life is knowing about God.  He was not referring to someone who has read many books and attended numerous seminars about God.  He was talking about a firsthand, experiential knowledge. 

Henry Blackaby ~ Experiencing God 

It is interesting how the author Blackaby chose the title for his book.  To experience God is not simply to know about Him.  I could read all the scriptures and books about knowing the Father and still come no closer to actually knowing Him.  Of course, this is exactly what the mantra of the mainstream church follows.  To read about God is to know Him.  I can recall being encouraged to read many books on seeing, knowing and feeling God during my days in the institutional church.  Of course, not one of these books helped me to come to know the Faher as I do today.  In fact, I would suggest that it was never book knowledge that brought me to a loving relationship with the Father, but His revelation in me.  As it was with Paul, God revealed His Son in me {Paul To The Galatians 1:15-16}.  The man Saul, although not a Greek, had accumulated years of book knowledge of God.  To his brethren in the Jewish religion, Saul was...a man of God.  Yet Saul never truly knew God until he was confronted by Him on the road to Damascus.  It was here that Saul experienced God first hand.  I would guess that all of his years of book knowledge could not have prepared Saul for that moment.  From that moment forward, Paul would speak not of knowing of God, but of truly knowing Him through personal experience.  I could speak of plenty of verses which tell of what God is like.  Of course, that will not bring you to a closer relationship with Him.  Understand, when I speak of the Father, I do so from the perspective of having known Him personally.  

~Scott~