LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
Know Him and Understand Him
"But in this let him that shall praise himself praise Him, that he understand and know Me, that I am the LORD, which sheweth mercy, and judgement, and righteousness in the earth: for these things I delight in, saith the LORD" (Jer. 9:24).
Through Jeremiah, the Lord declares what His true desire is for His people: not simply that they obey His commandments, but that they know and understand Him. Israel had lost sight of the Lord, preoccupied with external rituals and their licentious way of life. Then God claims to his people that they have forsaken him, and that they have not known him.
To understand and to know seem to be two synonymous concepts, but in this context they are not. One has to do with God, with what he essentially is, and the other with what God does, with his behavior and his works. He says: "Know that I am Jehovah". This "I am" is very significant. It is the presentation that God makes of himself before Moses, and it is the preferred presentation of the Lord Jesus in the Gospel of John. He is the eternal "I am", the God of glory, the eternal God, incarnate in Jesus Christ.
Then he says: "I do...", and here we have his work, his action. He wants to be known also in his way of proceeding. That is why he adds: "...that I show mercy, judgment and justice on earth". God does all this. He is a God of mercy, and also a God of judgment. He, in his patience, acts with benevolence, but also, because of his holiness, he acts with severity. When does he act in one way, and when in another?
Only those who know him deeply know when and why God does one thing or the other. The profane world does not know; they erroneously judge God's actions, attributing evil to him, when God always acts in love, even in the midst of his judgments. It is not enough to know his works, but to know why God does those works.
In Psalms 103, it says: "He declared his ways to Moses, and his works to the children of Israel" (v. 7). Then, in Hebrews chapter 3, the Holy Spirit takes the words of Psalm 95 to make a distinction between God's works and His ways. To know God's works is something external, it is simply to see what God does; but to know his ways is to know what is behind those works, what is God's intention and purpose.
Today God acts, he does his works, and today God also has his ways. Who knows his works and his ways? First of all, those who know him, and know what his eternal purposes are. "Let him who is to be praised praise himself in this", says the Lord. And he adds: "For these things I will".