Knowing God, J.I. Packer

Packer: "There is, certainly, great cause for humility in the thought that God sees all the twisted things about me that my fellow humans do not see and I am glad! and he sees more corruption in me than that which I see in myself (which in all conscience, is enough). There is also great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that for some unfathomable reason he wants to be my Friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given his Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose..."

"....Being Known: What matters supremely, therefore, is not, in the last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it-the fact that he knows me. I am graven on the palms of His hands. I am never out of His mind. All my knowledge of Him depends on His sustained initiative in knowing me. I know him because he first knew me, and continues to know me. He knows me as a friend, one who loves me; and there is no moment when his eyes are off me, or his attention distracted from me, and no moment when his care falters..."


"If You Can Believe: continues Packer, This is momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort-the sort of comfort that energizes be it said, not enervates-in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love and watching over me for my good. There is tremendous relief in knowing that his love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench his determination to bless me...."

He continues..."God spends so much of His time bringing home to us that we are deficient, both mentally and morally and dare not trust ourselves to find, or follow the right road. "

"The God who restores: One of the most startling things is that god uses our sins and mistakes to this end. He employs the educative discipline of failures and mistakes very frequently, it is striking to see how the Bible deals with Godly people making mistakes..." end of packer

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