Why Knowing God Matters

I recently spoke at an event called A Day of Stillness. Just hearing that title makes me want to take a deep breath. It sparks in me a sense of permission. These days, we are constantly bombarded with voices from every angle. In our hearts, we may long for stillness, and somehow think it’s selfish to desire it. We almost have to give ourselves permission to be still.

I spoke on “Why Knowing God Matters.” How beautiful, on a day set aside for stillness, to speak on the topic of knowing God.

Psalm 46:10 ties these ideas together. It is such a familiar verse:

“Be still, and know that I am God" (NKJV).

We see it on wall hangings, T-shirts, coffee mugs, and Facebook posts. When something is that familiar, we have to be careful of the “lullaby effect,” in which something becomes so familiar that we tend to check it off in our brains. “I’ve heard that before,” we say. “It's a great verse—now, what’s next?”

But I want you to stop for a minute. In this verse, stillness and knowing God are linked. Not only that, but they are linked in command form, spoken directly from the voice of God Himself: “Be still, and know that I am God.”

It’s the only verse in Psalm 46 spoken as a direct word from the voice of God. The whole of Scripture is God’s Word, of course, and we take it as such; but not every verse is worded in the same way. The rest of the psalm speaks about God, as if the Spirit of God is calling us to look at God the Father and learn things about Him: God is our refuge, strength, and help in trouble; He is with us; He has power over creation and over the nations of the earth.

But nestled in these beautiful observations is a direct and personal command from God. It’s an imperative, and as we learned in English class, the subject of an imperative is the understood “you.” God is telling you to “be still;” and in that stillness, He's telling you to “know that I am God.” It’s very personal.

As we discuss why knowing God matters, it’s important to understand what kind of “knowing” we’re talking about.

The word for “know” in Psalm 46:10 is the same Hebrew word used in Genesis 4:1, when it says that “Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived” a child. This is the intimate knowledge of experience. That’s how God wants us to know Him.

In Philippians 3:10, Paul describes the driving passion of his life in this way: “that I may know Him.” He already knew the Lord, but he longed to know Him more, in an ever-growing way.

Coming to know Him through salvation is the first step, but we're discussing what follows: the development of a vibrant, growing, intimate relationship with God.

Here are three reasons why this is important.

God Wants Us to Know Him

This is the first and most important reason knowing God matters. The very fact that we have a Bible to read is proof that God desires us! The whole book is an invitation, from cover to cover.

When we read Psalm 46:10, we are hearing His heart. He's calling, commanding, inviting, from the depths of His heart, to you and to me.

“Be still” here means more than just “sit still and think.” The New American Standard Bible translates it “Stop striving,” and that’s a little closer to the meaning of the word. God Himself says to us, “Stop what you’re doing. Halt. Turn your attention from what you are doing to what I want you to be doing. Turn your attention, and come to know Me.”

Many other Scriptures illustrate the longing heart of God for us to know Him. Isaiah 30:18 states, “The Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you” (NASB 1995). In Psalm 81:13, the Lord says, “Oh, that My people would listen to Me!” In Jeremiah 31:20, speaking of Israel as His own dear child, the Lord says, “Therefore My heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him.”

In the New Testament, Jesus weeps over Jerusalem. He continually says to people, “Come to Me.” He says, “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love” (John 15:9 NKJV). He describes the father of the prodigal son as running to meet him.

Why does the heart of God long that His people would seek and know Him? Because He loves us. He is not a reluctant God, sitting up in heaven with arms crossed, waiting to see if we'll pray or act correctly just so He might begrudgingly eke out a trickle of blessing. No! He waits to be wanted.

We often orient our thinking toward ourselves and what we desire from God. But when we seek the Lord, we need to understand that He desires us! He wants to speak to us and make Himself known.

We Need to Know Him

Knowing God is life. Jesus said, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). The Hebrew understanding of “eternal life” was not just a quantity of life, but a quality of life. It’s vibrant, abundant life—it’s life that flows because it’s attached to the Source. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

If you have ever been in love, you may have said something like, "I haven't really lived before now!" A real love relationship brings joy and a sense of sunshine over everything we do. We rejoice when we feel that from an earthly relationship, but earthly relationships are given to us by God as an illustration to call us to Himself. No matter how wonderful an earthly love may be, God alone is the real Source of abundant life. We were made for Him, and we need to know Him, because to know Him is life.

Another reason we desperately need to know God is illustrated for us in Psalm 46. Read the Psalm, and you will see a picture of upheaval: trouble; change; mountains slipping into the sea (imagine that for a second); nations in an uproar; kingdoms tottering; the earth melting; wars; desolations.

There is a certain dosage of trouble and change that comes in everyday life, but then there are times and seasons that feel like what this psalm describes. There are experiences in life that are so devastating that it feels like the whole earth changes—like the mountains fall into the sea.

Losing my husband felt like this. I felt anchorless. Experiencing that level of trial is like the whole foundation of who you are is shaken to the core and shattered apart.

We must seek the Lord in our ordinary days. When we cultivate the knowledge of God in our ordinary days, when the extraordinary day comes, we know that He will be to us everything this psalm declares: our refuge, strength, present help, security, and stability. This was my experience in that hour of need.

Isaiah 55:6 says, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.” Jeremiah 12:5 says, “If you fall down in a land of peace, how will you do in the thicket by the Jordan?” (NASB). Psalm 32:6 says, “Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found; certainly in a flood of great waters, they will not reach him.”

You need to seek and know God now, so you can be anchored in a time like Psalm 46 describes, when everything is upheaval and flood.

Others Need to Know Him

Not only does God want to know you, and do you need to know God, but others around you also need to know Him. Your life will fulfill a purpose for the kingdom of God as you know God.

Your family needs you to know God. Your coworkers need you to know God. Your neighbors need you to know God. The watching world needs you to know God.

We all desire for our lives to matter. We want to fulfill a purpose—something bigger than ourselves, something of Kingdom depth and weight—that only we can fulfill.

How does that happen? Jesus said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). We have to be intimately connected with Him. That is how fruit is borne and purpose is fulfilled. This is why knowing God matters! You draw near to God, and then you will reflect His glory to the watching world.

In Psalm 46:10, right after God commands us to “Be still and know,” He declares, “I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (NKJV). The command to be still and know Him in a deep, personal experience concludes with the assurance that this is how His glory will be revealed to the watching world.

In Exodus 33 and 34, Moses went up on the mountain to seek God, spending time away from the people and alone in the presence of God. Then, when he came back, the people saw the glory of God reflected on his face. When we cultivate aloneness with God and get to know Him, the watching world will see His glory.

Make Time for Stillness

Where does the rubber meet the road? If knowing God is this important, how should we live?

We make time for the people we love, and any love relationship needs to be cultivated with our time and attention.

Open God’s Word—not to check it off the list, but to see Him and hear His voice. Pray—not to say you went through your prayer list, but truly to commune with God.

Then, make it a habit to relate everything in your life to God throughout the day. Talk to Him about everything. Ask Him about everything. He is present; learn to recognize His presence. It’s an awareness that will grow.

Make time for stillness. In that stillness, ask God to make Himself known to you. Believe that He wants to. Remember, He is the God who says, “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3, NKJV), and, “You will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you” (Jeremiah 29:12-14a).