To Know and To Be Known By God: Intimacy with God

There is nothing quite like being known and loved by someone. We desire to be known, but we often carry a deep-set fear that when people truly know us – our weaknesses, our unkind thoughts, and hidden acts of selfishness – they will turn away from us.

Sometimes, our fears are confirmed when someone we’re in relationship with finds out about an aspect of our character, and they choose to walk away. Our desire for intimacy is innate and insatiable, but there aren’t many places for that need to be met.

One place we can turn to for this kind of intimacy we crave is God. Other people can hardly satisfy it because not only are there depths to us that we cannot adequately communicate to another person, but because people are imperfect.

Since people have moods and can change their minds about things, we can never be sure that a new revelation about ourselves will go down well. That’s one reason why we hold back even in our most intimate relationships.

Pursuing intimacy with God grounds our other pursuits of intimacy with other people. For one thing, we won’t expect people to fulfill a need that only God can. Even if people reject us we know that our identity in Christ is secure, and God won’t change His mind about us. This gives profound freedom and joy which cannot be taken away.

What is intimacy with God?

God knows us through and through. The psalmist expressed God’s knowledge of us this way:

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. – Psalms‬

God knows us better than we know ourselves, and there’s nothing that we can hide from Him. Intimacy with God is not so much about God knowing us, but about us becoming more familiar with who God is and delighting in the fact that God knows us.

Jesus said, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John‬

C.S. Lewis wrote in The Weight Of Glory: “To please God…to be a real ingredient in the Divine happiness…to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son – it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.” Intimacy with God is recognizing God’s delight in us, and living our lives cognizant of it.

Obstacles

We can get to know God and His ways. The Holy Spirit, God’s presence with His people, guides us into all truth as we search His Word (John 14: 23-27). He comforts us when we are distraught, prays on our behalf when we don’t know what to pray, and groans with us in our distress (Romans 8:14-27; 2 Corinthians 1: 3-4).

Some things can stand in the way of intimacy with God, including the following:

Our busy lives. Prayer, reading and meditating on Scripture, fasting, practicing gratitude to God, and communing with God’s people are all practices that cultivate deeper intimacy with God. They take time, and our schedules can crowd out these practices.

We pull away from Him out of fear or despair. When Peter recognized who Jesus was after He’d performed a miracle, we read, “When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, ‘Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!’” (Luke‬

We can shy away from God because we’ve made mistakes and are aware of how impure we are before Him. Out of shame or a sense of unworthiness, we withdraw from engaging with God, or we feel He’s pulled away from us. Instead of turning away, we can confess our sin and repent of it, and He is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1: 6-10). ‬‬‬‬‬‬

Experiencing pain. One of the biggest questions that confronts believers is the reality of pain and suffering. The loss of a loved one, experiencing chronic pain or sickness, and the loss of a job are all things that can make one turn from God and seek solace elsewhere. As confusing and painful as these experiences are, we ought to cling all the more to God through them, because life and salvation are found nowhere else (John 6:68-69; Acts 4:12).

Cultivating intimacy with God

You may find yourself struggling with how to cultivate intimacy with God for any number of reasons. Help is available, whether in the form of a life coach that can help you to prioritize what matters, or a Christian counselor to help you work through any hurt that stands in the way of intimacy with God.

Don’t stand far off from God. Instead, talk to someone and seek help, as everything of substance in your life depends on your intimacy with God. Reach out to our office today for support.