Make Every Effort: Peter's Fervent PleasSample

Day 6: And to Goodness, Knowledge

Now we build on our goodness with knowledge. The more we experience God’s goodness and begin to pay it forward, expressing His goodness into the lives around us, the more we get excited and want to know more about our awesome God. We start digging into His character, and the best source is God’s Word. It quickly becomes our favorite book, and the more we find out about who God is, the more we want to know Him. As Paul said in Philippians 3:10: “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” Paul didn’t just want to know about God; He wanted to experience Him intimately and know Him personally by experience.

In Habakkuk 2:14, where it says: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea,” the Hebrew word "yada" means "to know intimately or experience," not just acquire knowledge about something. This brings great joy to our Lord as He declares in Jeremiah 9:23-24: 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, 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.

One of the most enjoyable and profitable ways to gain knowledge that makes a difference is to explore the character of God in the Bible by exploring His names. In early times, and still today in many places, names were given as character descriptions. We see in Exodus 3:14 when Moses asked God about His name: “God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” This name indicates no beginning and no end–infinite expansiveness, and the entire triune God is included in that name, as Jesus reminded the religious leaders in John 8:58.

• In Exodus 15:26, we see that God is our healer;
• in Leviticus 11:44 He is holy;
• in Psalm 23:1, He is our Shepherd;
• in Ezekiel 48:35, He is God of the Presence.

There are many more verses that you will have fun discovering! And in the book of John, Jesus describes Himself by seven different “I Am” names:

• 6:35, I Am the Bread of Life;
• 8:12, I Am the Light of the World;
• 10:7, I Am the Gate for the sheep;
• 10:14, I Am the Good Shepherd;
• 11:25; I Am the Resurrection and the Life;
• 14:6, I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life;
• 15:1, I Am the True Vine.

Reflection: We are all growing in knowledge every day, but what are we learning? Who or what is our supreme value? Are we growing in our experience and knowledge of the uncreated Creator of the universe, who gave His life so that we could enjoy Him forever, or do we spend most of the time just learning about what is going on around us? If we choose the knowledge of God, our future is bright, but there is much more! In our next lesson we’ll see what we add to knowledge!