Knowledge Matters

In the third chapter of Timothy Keller's Prayer he moves toward his definition of what prayer is. He defines it as:

"a personal, communicative response to the knowledge of God."(p.45)

He goes on further to state that:

"All human beings have some knowledge of God available to them. At some level, the have an indelible sense that they need something or someone who is on a higher plane and infinitely greater than they are. Prayer is seeking to respond and connect to that being and reality, even if it is no more than calling out into the air for help. 

That is, I believe, the common denominator of all human prayer. However, because our definition understands prayer as a response to the knowledge of God, it means that prayer is profoundly altered by the amount and accuracy of that knowledge."(emphasis mine)

 This reaffirms my position that we all have a duty to be mini Theologians! We need to learn more about God; who he is, what he's done, and what he's going to do. This knowledge has a wider application than just filling our brains with cool facts, it influences even the most private times of prayer. The more we know and understand about God, the more intimate I believe our prayers will become.

Athanasius on the knowledge of God

Here is an excerpt from Athanasius' On the Incarnation:

When God the Almighty was making mankind through His own Word, He perceived that they, owing to the limitation of their nature, could not of themselves have any knowledge of their Artificer, the Incorporeal and Uncreated. He took pity on them, therefore, and did not leave them destitute of the knowledge of Himself, lest their very existence should prove purposeless. For of what use is existence to the creature if it cannot know its Maker? How could men be reasonable beings if they had no knowledge of the Word and Reason of the Father, through Whom they had received their being? They would be no better than the beasts, had they no knowledge save of earthly things; and why should God have made them at all, if He had not intended them to know Him? But, in fact, the good God has given them a share in His own Image, that is, in our Lord Jesus Christ, and has made even themselves after the same Image and Likeness. Why? Simply in order that through this gift of Godlikeness in themselves they may be able to perceive the Image Absolute, that is the Word Himself, and through Him to apprehend the Father; which knowledge of their Maker is for men the only really happy and blessed life.

Athanasius says several things about the knowledge of God in this passage. First, an existence without the knowledge of our Maker is a life to be pitied and a life a futility. He asks, " For of what use is existence to the creature if it cannot know its Maker?"

Second, our faculty of reason is comes from our knowledge of God; this separates us from all other earthly creatures and is surely part of God's image in us: we "would be no better than the beasts."

Third, our existence is defensible only because we can know God. Athanasius queries, "why should God have made them at all, if He had not intended them to know Him?" This is so contrary to modern sensibilities that think we are the be all and end all of our existence. Rather, we were created for Another.

Fourth, the reason we have been made in the image of God, distinct from the rest of creation, is that we might " be able to perceive the Image Absolute, that is the Word Himself, and through Him to apprehend the Father." Thay is why we exist; because of Him.

Finally, this ability to know God is the path to a fulfilling and purposeful life. Indeed, this is the only "happy and blessed life" available to us.

Chapter 3- The Knowledge of God

This chapter really caught my attention. Pink writes about how this is something that we never really give much thought too, probably because of how uncomfortable it makes us feel. The fact that God knows everything everything, not just almost everything is scary. All my thoughts, all my words, all my deeds, it's overwhelming to think about but Pink does a great job of showing how an understanding of this attribute is to be applied to our lives. Enjoy these quotes.

"He is perfectly acquainted with every detail in the life of every being in heaven, in earth, and in hell."

"The apprehension of his omniscience ought to bow us in adoration before him. Yet how little do we meditate upon this Divine perfection! Is it because the very thought of it fills us with uneasiness? How solemn is this fact: nothing can be concealed from God! "For I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them" (Ezek. 11:5)."

"Here is encouragement to prayer. There is no cause for fearing that the petitions of the righteous will not be heard, or that their sighs and tears shall escape the notice of God, since he knows the thoughts and intents of the heart."

"Were it in anywise possible for something to occur apart from either the direct agency or permission of God, then that something would be independant of him, and he would at once cease to be Supreme."

"None of his decrees are left contingent either on creatures or secondary causes. There is no future event which is only a mere possibility, that is, something which may or may not come to pass: "Known unto God are all his works from the beginning" (Acts 15:18)."

"It should, however, be pointed out that neither God's knowledge nor his cognition of the future, considered simply in themselves, are causative. Nothing has ever come to pass, or ever will, merely because God knew it. The cause of all things is the will of God."

"The apprehension of God's infinite knowledge should fill the Christian with adoration. The whole of my life stood open to his view from the beginning. He foresaw my every fall, my every sin, my every backsliding; yet, nevertheless, fixed his heart upon me. Oh, how the realization of this should bow me in wonder and worship before him!"