Daily Devotional

We grew up playing poker in our home. We never bet much – pennies and nickels, in the form of chips. But I love competition. I love winning. Probably the most compulsive drive I have is to win.

It was never enough to win once, or even sometimes. So when I got married and had my own home, I started studying how to win in poker. My quest was to find out the secret to winning all the time! I read some books on what the odds were of winning with a given set of cards. It was explained how to decide what to keep, and what to throw away. The odds could tell me when to bet big, when to lay low, and when to get out.

I practiced on my own with cards, in my house. I got into a game with anyone, or any group I could find. But my sad discovery was that there was not a way (short of some kind of cheating) to always win. There was no way to discover enough knowledge. There was no way to control all the cards. There was no way to know absolutely what my opponents might do, no matter how many times we played together. The disappointing truth was that I would never know enough to always be in charge and win. It still bugs me!

Mankind is like this. We are always trying to figure out things, and to control them. While a
lot of progress has been made over the centuries of observation, experimentation and study, ever more seems to remain unknown. Many benefits have come our way, like the pacemaker I recently got to help control my heartbeat. But the most essential things remain a mystery, too complicated to comprehend.

The church is like this, too. We want to know God. We study and pray and observe. We analyze and experiment. For myself, I have not once been able to make God appear to me, or speak with an audible voice. I have tried, and hoped. We all really want to be able to circumscribe God, that is, to completely walk around Him, like walking around a lake. When done, we feel we know the lake. But God cannot be circumscribed. How do you walk around a presence that is everywhere? How do you know Him who is infinite? Solomon declares that it cannot be done.

When I gave my heart to know wisdom
and to see the task which has been done on the earth 
(even though one should never sleep day or night), 
and I saw every work of God, 
I concluded that man cannot discover 
the work which has been done under the sun. 
Even though man should seek laboriously, 
he will not discover; 
and though the wise man should say, “I know,”
he cannot discover.  Ecclesiastes 8:16-17, NASB

Men preach and write books; give lectures. They all seem so absolute. But no one will ever absolutely know God. He has given us some revelation of Himself in His word. He has given us His Spirit upon putting our faith in Jesus. But we only know in part still (1 Corinthians 13:9). We will always only know in part. God’s solution is for us to be still, and know that He is God. He will be exalted among the nations. He will be exalted in all the earth…one day (Psalm 46:10).

About a month after my pacemaker procedure I went to the main lake at Yosemite Lakes Park. I walked around quite a bit, then settled in to interact with the Lord. I requested and received, by faith, a Scripture passage to read: Psalm 97.

It was a fabulous time! I still did not see God or hear an audible voice. But I knew Him out there. What was the outcome? The more we come into God’s presence, the more this central truth of life simply overwhelms us: God cannot be completely known!

He can, however, be known in part. Enough to lead us to the same conclusion that everybody gets when they get there: Worship Him! (Psalm 97:7). The most fundamental thing that characterizes us as believers, and edifies us in Him is to worship. This is anathema to the world, to the flesh and to the devil. But worship is the true lifeblood of the church bought by Christ’s suffering and death. It is the centerpiece of anything and everything else we are to do.

So much so, that when God called out His people from Egypt, while they were yet wandering in the desert, He set up a tabernacle, and had it put in the very center of their orderly camp. What went on there? It was the place of God’s presence, the core of the nation, and the place where men and women might come to worship Him.

Today, be clear that you can never discern all the work that God has done, and even less the full knowledge of who He is (Eccl. 8:16-17). Be clear that our call is to be still in our hearts, and know that He is God, this One who cannot not be completely known, ever (Psalm 46:10). Then take hold of the admonition of Psalm 97:7, “Worship Him, all you gods.”

As you do, you will discern your most central created purpose – to worship God! Let this be your goal in the heat of this summer. Worship Him! He is calling. Go to Him!

Read: Psalm 97, Rev. 5:11-14, 19:1-4
Sing: Jesus is Calling, by Fanny J. Crosby, and O Worship the King, by Sir Robert H. Grant

"English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers."