I have been a Christian for a number of years now – long enough to know that every ancient Jewish boy and girl of Jesus’ time had much or most of the Hebrew scriptures memorized and long enough to know that God commands us to meditate on his word day and night. I realized, at some point, that the scriptures were part of the basic thought processes of ancient Jews like Paul, and others. The scriptures were so much a part of their lives that they were interwoven into their being, and, thus, obviously, part of all life decisions. This was not the least because the scriptures speak to and make commands and demands of our lives. I also know enough about scriptures that our idea of “knowledge” doesn’t do justice to the biblical one, which is less like knowing how to solve an algebra problem and more like knowing what your best friend is thinking from across the room in a given situation. Adam “knew” Eve when their marriage was consummated and they became one. This was how the ancient Hebrews “knew” the scriptures. No married man makes any good decision, even the subconscious ones, most likely, without the input of his wife, whether said input was directly spoken or not.
I realized, at some point, that, beyond not having much scripture memorized, I did not know scripture in this way. And, if scripture is God’s Word, I did not know God in this way. I knew God well enough, however, to know I wanted to know God more and better. With the goal of knowing God in mind, then, I began a while back to read the gospels very slowly, meditatively, and prayerfully. I also began to memorize, at least, the basic idea of what I was reading, thus, contributing to my goal of interweaving the scriptures with my being, of making them part of my very self, of being able to re-member the Word. I found that, as I began to, in some way, hold the Word together in my mind rather than leave the words printed on the page, it began to come alive for me in unexpected ways. Knowing I was going to be moving very slowly, I started with the book of Mark, because it moves quickly. I have now made it through Mark, Matthew, and John, having just read through the Resurrection in John on Easter, 2014 (no, that was not planned).
As I sit here this moment writing this, I am about to start on Luke, and I am expectantly looking forward to Acts. However, I wanted to make a record of some of these insights gained as I moved through God’s Word. Some of said insights are not only or directly from the process described above. Some came about from processes influenced by Lectio Divina and/or Ignatian Contemplative Prayer, among other things, but, in any case the goal of knowing God remained. Another of my goals of my readings, which, I think maybe tied to my original goal much like a horse to a trainer while longeing, and which will also appear in my notes, has been to understand better the source of the doctrines I’ve been taught and the creeds I’ve recited. I wanted to hear it directly from the trainer’s mouth, so to speak.
I decided to make these records of my insights into a blog for a number of reasons. The first and simplest was because I type much more quickly than I write in a journal. In fact, this blog was almost entitled “Notes on Scripture”, because it will be, in effect, my notes generated by my scripture readings. This blog also almost became a series of Microsoft Word documents saved privately on my computer, but my computer is running out of space, and I wanted to be able to share my insights with others where appropriate, if the need or desire arises. As you can see, however, I settled on the title “Knowing God,” because, rather than simply taking notes, it is more deeply, more fundamentally, and ultimately, that for which I am aiming.
Knowing God 