We haven’t exhausted the Post Modern Mindset but hopefully we’ve at least given you food for thought. We once again return to our basic toolbox of verses that hopefully will encourage you and strengthen your walk.
We’ve covered a pretty broad swath in the New Testament as to why we should read and memorize Scripture. If you remember we’ve seen that John 8:31b-32 revealed it shows that by abiding in His Word it reveals that we know Him, that by abiding in His Word we not only know Him but have the Truth that sets us free. We’ve seen in Romans 12:1-2 that part of our Spiritual act of worship is revealed in being transformed daily by the renewing of our mind in His Word and this leads to us knowing His Will. We’ve also seen that our sanctification is tied intrinsically to His Word as John 17:17 declares. So what does the Old Testament say about our relation ship with God and His Word? Jeremiah chimes in with a bold statement about boasting.
Jeremiah 9:23-24
23 This is what the LORD says:
“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom
or the strong boast of their strength
or the rich boast of their riches,
24 but let the one who boasts boast about this:
that they have the understanding to know me,
that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,”
declares the LORD.
So to establish the context Jeremiah is actually in a series of indictments against Israel but at the beginning of chapter 9 the Lord states: “They bend their tongue like a bow; falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, declares the LORD.” The reason for all the indictments? They don’t know Him. He reveals the bulk of the reason they don’t know Him is revealed in verse 13 “And the LORD says: “Because they have forsaken my law that I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice or walked in accord with it, 14 but have stubbornly followed their own hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them.” He points to a time in the future after verses 23 and 24 that He would punish those who are only conforming externally. In verse 25 He states “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh—” The Lords’ ultimate response to their disobedience is all revealed later in Jeremiah 31:31 His New Covenant. In Ezekial’s account of the New Covenant He states: “And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”(Eze 36:27).
Knowing Him means we know His Word. Knowing Him is revealed in obeying His Word. Is He causing you to walk in His statutes? Do we know His Word? The only way to know Him intimately is to know His Word intimately as revealed by His Spirit and to us by His Spirit. The only way that happens as we have seen in Colossians is to the Word dwell in us richly. You cannot obey what you do not know.