God Only Knows

“Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God…” That’s Ezekiel Chapter 39, Verse 28.

 Too, Chapter 7, Verse 4: “Then you shall know that I am the Lord.”

 And Chapter 7, Verse 27: “And they shall know that I am the Lord.”

 And then there is Chapter 28, Verse 26: “And they shall know that I am the Lord their God.”

 Then too 34:30: “They shall know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord God.”

 And there is more. You get the picture!

 But how is it that we forget?

 And to know this, to know that the Lord is our God, what does this mean?

And what difference does it make?

 I guess the one thing this all tells us, all this “knowing God” concern, is that we forget constantly and consistently that God is God and that we are not.

 But, so what? What does such knowledge do to us and for us?

 Let me be short and to the point (a difficult thing for me to do!): This knowing does two things. One, it is the antidote to all internal and external, not to say also eternal, anxiety. Two, it is the leveling force upon all human relationships.

 Antidote to Anxiety: we have no worries as to what will become of us.

Leveling Force on Human Relationships: we have no superior status and thus treat all others as equals.

 We could spend hours on both of those. But, back to that first question: How is it that we forget?

Well, we actually don’t “forget.” We instead know it only too well and do not like it one bit!

 What? All this wonderful “knowledge,” the consequence of which is Personal Serenity and Relational Tranquility (both of which equal “the peace that passes all understanding,” for which check out Philippians 4:7), and we don’t like it!?

 Yes, exactly, because we are not the controlling factor, the one who decides, the one who determines, the one who gives and takes. Because we are taken out of the game of what will become of us (a salvation) as well as determining to whom we will be neighborly (another salvation, a little more close to home), we refuse this relationship with God. God is not our God. We are.

 And why does God put up with this?

 God only knows. And thus, come Hell and High Water, our Salvation.