To know God personally

In the Scriptures, God is always described as a person. Mainstream and contemporary Christian belief portray him as three persons --the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Rather than go into the theological explanation of the Trinity, it is important that we realize that while God is God, he is also a person, and that we can enter into a personal relationship with him.

We can always have that reverent idea of our God as the absolute being, creator of the heavens and the earth and of everything, from whom all things come from. But we also need to always remember that God is also a person first and foremost --a person, which any dictionary will define as “with intelligence, the capacity to speak a language, creativity, the ability to make moral judgments, consciousness, free will, a soul, self-awareness, etc.” God as a person talks to us, and we can talk to him. And as we read and read the Bible, we learn that he always does this on a personal level.

When we read about ancient Israel in the Scriptures, we always read that God speaks to his messengers and prophets, in person, and as a person. He did not speak to groups of people, but made his intentions and commandments known to individuals, for them to respond and obey. To Abraham, he first appeared and said, “Go from your country, … to the land I will show you.” (Gen. 12:1). Abraham obeyed, “So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him …” (Gen. 12:4).

Same as Abraham’s son, Isaac. The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt…” He promised him, “I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, … and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed;” (Gen. 26:2-4). And then again to Isaac’s son, Jacob, God appeared personally in a dream, and promised him, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. … in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen. 28:12-14). God spoke to Joseph through his dreams. In Exodus 3, he spoke to Moses from a burning bush (Exodus 3); and at a later time through a cloud: “Behold, I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe in you forever.”

All throughout the Bible and even and especially today, God speaks to us in a personal way. That’s how he is and who he is, a personal God, personally knowable and wants dearly to have a personal relationship with us. So, if we want to know God, we can actually easily do, because this is his foremost desire, in the first place --for us to know him more and have a deep relationship with him. We need to know God the same way we know our closest friends, relatives, siblings, parents…as God, the most important person in our lives.