Read: Psalm 103:1-7; Exodus 3:1-6, 13-15
He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. (Ps. 103:7)
How do we know God? When the Bible speaks about knowing God, it begins with revelation. We can know God because God wants to be known. He has revealed himself to us. We can know that there is a God because of the beauty, wonder, and intricacy of the universe. A creation like this demands the existence of a creator to explain it. Sometimes we see a brilliant performance and want to know more about the artist. “But what is she like as a person?” we ask. So, what is God like as a person?
To answer that we need the Bible. The psalmist suggests that God’s character is revealed in his “ways,” his “acts” of redemption. But we only know that they are God’s acts and that they do redeem when they are recounted and explained in Scripture. To the ancient Egyptians the exodus was a Hebrew slave revolt. But in the Bible’s telling, it was the God of the universe keeping his covenant promises to Abraham and his descendants.
In the New Testament, God’s acts of redemption centered on Jesus’s birth, death, resurrection, and ascension—“the mighty works of God” (Acts 2:11). The authorities saw the crucifixion of Jesus as just another troublemaker gotten rid of. But the Bible, in Peter’s Pentecost sermon, says that with his resurrection, the cross reveals Jesus as both Savior and Lord! What is God like as a person? Just look at Jesus.
As you pray, thank God for the revelation given to us in the Bible.
David Bast is a writer and pastor who served for 23 years as the President and Broadcast Minister for Words of Hope. In his more than 40 years of devotional writing and preaching, he has been encouraging believers around the world to be shaped by God and his Word.
Prior to his ministry and work at Words of Hope, Dave served as a pastor for 18 years in congregations in the Reformed Church in America. A graduate of Hope College and Western Theological Seminary, he is the author of nine devotional books and Bible studies, including God of My Days,Why Doesn't God Act More Like God,Christ in the Psalms, andA Gospel for the World.
Dave and his wife, Betty Jo, have four children and eight grandchildren. Dave enjoys reading, growing tomatoes, and avidly follows the Detroit Tigers.
