Bible Boot Camp Lesson 2: Why Should We Know God?

Why should men know God? If someone asks you why God matters, what would you say?

We have to be able to defend our faith; otherwise, it flounders. So here are 5 of the biggest reasons why should we know God:

1. To obtain eternal life. 

Jesus indicated this when he prayed, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3).[1] Jesus also stated, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).[2]

2. To know ourselves.[3]

As we learn more of God’s amazing attributes, we grow continually more cognizant of our own frailty, our own limitations, and our own mortal state.

Gazing upon God’s power triggers the realization that we can truly do nothing at all unless He allows it. By drinking deeply of His character, we learn that we cannot so much as exist without permission from Him in whom “all things consist” (Colossians 1:17).[4]

Such self-revelation can free a beleaguered soul from a hapless struggle to prove himself, and release him to the restful life of trust and freedom.

3. To understand this world.

James Montgomery Boice, one of my favorite authors, said, “the knowledge of God also gives us knowledge of this world: its good and its evil, its past and its future, its purpose and its impending judgment at the hand of God…. It is a confusing place until we know the God who made it and learn from him why he made it and what is to happen to it.”[5]

4. To become holy ourselves.

Without knowledge of God’s character, we have no absolute moral compass to which we may compare ourselves.

If we depend on men for examples of holiness, we will be forever confused. Even the most devout men will err occasionally.

No, we must have an unwavering beacon of holiness, which can only exist in an unchanging God. Only by comparing ourselves to the almighty, eternal God can we obey His command to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”[6]

5. To become strong.[7]

Christians can profess great faith; but without knowledge of God, they have little power because their faith is not grounded in God. Faith that is a result of rumor is lip service only, and results in a low view of God.

A. W. Tozer writes in his book The Knowledge of the Holy, “The Church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshiping men.”[8]

Boice elaborates: “Ask an average Christian to talk about God. After getting past the expected answers you will find that his god is a little god of vacillating sentiments. He is a god who would like to save the world, but who cannot. He would like to restrain evil, but somehow he finds it beyond his power. So he has withdrawn into semiretirement, being willing to give good advice in a grandfatherly sort of way, but for the most part he has left his children to fend for themselves in a dangerous environment.”

Boice continues, “Such a god is not the God of the Bible. Those who know their God perceive the error in that kind of thinking and act accordingly. The God of the Bible is not weak; he is strong. He is all-mighty. Nothing happens without his permission or apart from his purposes—even evil. Nothing disturbs or puzzles him. His purposes are always accomplished. Therefore, those who know him rightly act with boldness, assured that God is with them to accomplish his own desirable purposes in their lives.”[9]

We must know God because knowing Him brings conviction that He is who He says He is, and He will do what He says He will do. Only in this conviction can one move through life with the assurance and power that come from on high.

Can you think of any other reasons we should know God? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts!