Re:Verse reading–1 Samuel 3 (day four)
V.7 – “Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord yet been revealed to him.”
Philippians 3:8 – “I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing values of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things…”
Henry Blackaby has said, “there is a radical difference between knowing God through experience and knowing God from a theology textbook.” Samuel discovered that truth. Until chapter 3 and his experience with God, Samuel served Eli. Now he served the Lord. All of Israel recognized the difference. Samuel’s faithful obedience to God caused God to end His famine of revealing His word to Israel.
Can the people around you recognize that you have experienced the living God? Is it evident that your relationship with God is more than a head knowledge…that you have a heart knowledge? Don’t settle for just a head knowledge of God…ask Him to make His Word a living experience in your life!
Great topic. I believe that knowledge of and experience Christ must go hand-in-hand for sustaining Christian beliefs. Just like everything else in life, knowledge is helpful as it provides information but we must be able to transfer that knowledge into application and to apply that knowledge into our everyday life. Heads and hearts must be connected! From heads to hearts, and from hearts to actions!! How do we know God stems from our experience with Him through prayers!
Knowledge of God helps facilitate our curiosity about Him but experience matters as experience helps strengthen our trust and faith in God. In all matters and from all corners of our life, we can experience God through Christ when we invite Him to live in us, to lead and to guide, and to communicate with Him by praying!
The questions for us would be 1) what have we done with the knowledge we have about God, and 2) How do we feel in our hearts about who Jesus is and about God in general?
The following blogs should add to your reading pleasure:
Head Knowledge vs Heart Knowledge | Before The Cross
https://www.beforethecross.com/devotionals/head-knowledge-vs-heart-knowledge/
Does Experience Shape Our Understanding of God? | HuffPost
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/kidspirit/does-experience-shape-our-understanding-of-god_b_3116735.html
Unless we act on what God, through Jesus Christ, has taught us, knowledge is useless! Unless we invite God,through the Holy Spirit, to live in us, we have no personal relationship with Him. If our hearts are not connected with Jesus’ teaching, we are far from God!
I am not surprised when God chose to reveal Himself to some but not to others. Surely, it has something to do with God’s plan on earth and with our hearts for Him. My faith in God has been strengthened by hearing from those I trust most who benefited from God’s divine intervention. I also truly believe that God reveals Himself and calls on those who have strong faith and trust in Him to serve His purpose. He governs the earth everyday.
I am convinced that everyone understands and experiences God differently. And unbelievers definitely have no experience with God as they do not know Jesus at the personal level. Our experience with God does shape our understanding about God! I am convinced that we will have no personal relationship or experience with God if our minds and hearts are not connected and when our hearts are far away from God!!