His Way Is Him

“Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.” (Ex 33:13 AV)

The relationship between knowing God and knowing God’s way is obvious.  We cannot say we know God if we do not know His way.  His way is the extension of His character, purpose, and plan.  To know His way is to know Him.  This is where the bulk of Christendom fails.  Much is nothing more than fake and emotional mysticism.  There is a curiosity about the theology of God.  But there is little interest in knowing the way of God.  The statutes, commandments, and principles of God are least among the spiritual that is desired.  The way of God is only desired to the extent the saint gains a benefit from it.  If there is a blessing associated with the ways of God, we are all over it.   But to know the way of God that He might be glorified and pleased regardless of what it might personally cost us, no thank you.  Moses knew he could not lead God’s people without knowing God.  And, he cannot know God without knowing His way.

My father passed away almost two years ago.  Upon his death, my sister compiled all of dad’s photos.  He was a prolific photographer.  Of the pictures she could collect, there were over 4500.  But that is only a drop in the bucket of all the photos he actually took.  When I look at the photos, I see the history of the man I called Dad.  Part of that history; actually a large part; could be boiled down into two interests.  His religion was a big part of who he was.  There was also his passion for wilderness camping.  He was heavily into the boy scouts.  We have black and whites of him in his early twenties and one of him camping while in the boy scouts or just for fun.  There are pictures of him with friends, his brother, and his parents.  There are pictures of him in the thick woods or at a lakeside.  He is involved in all sorts of activities from canoeing to fishing to cooking over an open fire.  He raised us with that same passion.  He wanted us to appreciate what this part of his life meant to him.  We learned the same skills he had.  We learned his ways because that was who he was.

It is an insult to reject part of the ways of God because we simply do not prefer them.  When we reject the ways of God, we reject Him.  When I received Christ and left the church of my forefathers, it hurt my father deeply.  I had no choice.  The LORD led me that way.  But the hurt that came from it was deep and personal.  Why?  Because that was who he was.  His religion was him.  In the same manner, when we reject the word of God, or portions of it, because we want to live as we want to live, this is a personal insult to God.  When I left the religion of my forefathers, I was leaving a faith tradition that teaches salvation by works.  There is an element of human effort in salvation whereas the word of God clearly teaches salvation is by faith.  I left a church that taught tradition and church leaders are on equal footing as the word of God.  This is a grave error.  I had to leave for my own conscience's sake.  God’s way is perfect and pure.  There is no reason to leave them.  To follow them is to appreciate Him.  This is where we are failing.  This is where we need to return.  To know God’s way is to know Him.