Knowing the Heart of God

God's heart goes out to us. It's not the first time I've written this, but I believe it's very important to keep this in mind, to get to know His heart better. This means not only having knowledge of God, but really getting to know Him in your heart. You can have a lot of knowledge in your head and still not really know God in your heart.

Getting to know someone happens in a personal meeting. Just check for yourself: everyone in the Netherlands knows King Willem-Alexander, but for the vast majority of us that is only known from a distance. If you were to visit him regularly, you would get to know him a little more personally. And suppose he were to adopt you as a son or daughter, then you get to live in the palace and eat at the same table. You will then find out what he likes and maybe play games with him and find out how fanatical he is, and so on. Spending time with someone is when you really get to know someone.

God is love
This also applies to our relationship with God. Romans 8:15 says, "... but you have received the Spirit of adoption as children, through whom we cry, Abba, Father!" As believers, we have been adopted by our God and King: we are His sons and daughters and He is our Father. Can you experience that too? Do you know Him and do you know His love for you? In Ephesians 3:19 it says: '... and you should know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that you might be filled to all the fullness of God."

To know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that is quite something! To know His love for us is to know Himself, because God is love. 1 John 4:16 says: "And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.'

How we know God determines to a large extent how we hear Him and how we read and interpret the Bible. When God speaks to you, in what tone does it happen? Is that strict, distant, harsh, or do you really experience His love? This has everything to do with the image we have of God. This image is often already formed in our childhood and we usually (unconsciously) carry it with us into our adult lives.

God is light
In the letter of 1 John we just read that God is love. But at the beginning of the letter we also read in 1 John 1:5: 'And this is the message which we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and that in Him there is no darkness at all.'

God is light and where there is light, it cannot also be dark. God is light in the purest and purest form there is. There is no darkness in Him. Not even a little bit. That means that all His thoughts, intentions and actions towards you and me are of the purest and purest form. He really has no evil ulterior motive.

Sometimes we can doubt His goodness and love for us. Those kinds of ideas and thoughts linger like hooks in our soul. 'Is He really that good? Does He really love me? I've messed up with Him so many times,...' But God is light and He is love. That is who He really is. And He cannot and will not change that.

Knowing His Love
In 1 Corinthians 13:1-2 it says: "If I were to speak the tongues of men and of angels, but I did not have love, I would have become sounding brass or a sounding cymbal. And if I had the gift of prophecy and knew all mysteries and had all knowledge, and if I had all faith so that I could move mountains, but I did not have love, I would be nothing."

When it comes to hearing His voice, knowing His love and being able to live from it is the most important key to be able to hear His voice well. I understand that this Bible text is specifically about prophesying, among other things, but in order to prophesy you must be able to hear His voice. You can pass on a message from God without knowing His love, but it will sound like a booming gong and a shrill cymbal. Even when God speaks to you personally, it is not separate from who He is and He is Light and Love!

N.B. The Revised King James Version has been used for all Bible texts.