Knowing My God Through Bible Study
The Spiritual Discipline of Bible study moves us beyond "knowing about God" to "knowing God". So what does it mean to "know" God? The word "know" is a great word study that will lead us to the idea of ‘knowledge’ that encompasses our being. In Genesis four, we have the phrase “Adam knew his wife”. The word ‘knew’ in the Hebrew is ‘yada’ (יָדַע) which used here is an ‘intimate experiential knowledge’. Here we have knowledge gained through the senses, which is a very common idea throughout the O.T., as the root of this word occurs 989 times. Joshua 23:13-14 repeats this idea of ‘knowledge’ in regards to God’s promises and experiences they have had with God along the way of His faithfulness to them. We find another occurrence of ‘knowledge’ in Judges 2:10, where a generation grew up without ‘knowing’ the LORD. Here knowledge is not factual, but experiential – they ‘knew of’ God, but did not ‘know’ God. Through this short Bible study, we can see how we have really lost what it means to "know" not only within the English language, but further within our culture. I believe that the enlightenment period (17th – 20th Centuries) has left us with a dichotomy between our Christian life (spirituality) and our formal doctrine (theology), often resulting in us compartmentalizing our heart and mind. In fact I think this is one of the key responses that I personally believe is a driving force behind the postmodern cultural shift.
Bible study is not the object (source) of our faith, but it is our primary access to God. Bible study becomes our means to spiritual growth, as Jesus, the Logos, the Living Word, incarnates into our very breath of life. It reveals a synthesis and vision of connecting our heart with our mind. Bible study needs to be seen as “a constant dialogue between the unchanging Word and changing situations of disciples.” (Leonard Doohan in Spirituality Today, p. 69) In Bible study we find not only a knowledge about God, but God Himself. Just as God breathed all of creation into existence, so through Bible study in His Word, we find God's breathe into our very souls.