The Joy of Knowing God by Caleb Barbier

            The absurdity of life is that the wise man dies just like the fool. We can work as hard as we can, live for the current pleasures, and still not feel satisfied or come to a meaning that truly lasts. These were the thoughts of King Solomon. In his life, he searched for meaning and concluded that “all is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2) Later, he would say, “What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man. I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.” (Ecclesiastes 3:9-15) In this life, Solomon teaches us that work has been given to us for our happiness. Yet even in this good gift, we are left wanting more. This desire is healthy, in fact, the Bible teaches us that our hearts should long for more. We were created to know God, and because sin has corrupted our state, we are left without Him. We can certainly experience happiness by many avenues, but we are missing the joy of intimacy with God. This joy is transcendent, and it can only be experienced through a personal relationship with Jesus.

            This absolute statement, that there is true happiness to be experienced only in Christ, comes as a result of the belief in the sacredness of scripture. As Christians, or at least for me, I do not presuppose that scripture is true and then believe it. Rather, on the basis of the resurrection of Jesus, the eyewitnesses that testified to His resurrection (somewhere around 500), and the authority Jesus gave to the prophets before Him and the apostles after, I believe in the scriptures. As a result, I can confidently say that whatever the Bible teaches, I must submit to it. Since the justification for my belief has been established, it is imperative that we look to the scriptures and some instances where philosophers looked to the scriptures and found true joy in Jesus.

When talking to His followers, Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) He does not merely say that He is a way, but the way. This way to the Father is in reference to the way to know God. In the Bible, God is one being in three distinct persons. This is not a contradiction, but a paradox. This is important to know simply because Jesus is God, specifically the Son to the Father. If we want to know the Father, we must know the Son. Paul tells us in his letter to Rome that if we want to know God, we submit to Jesus as Lord, stating, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that the [Father] raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) This is crucial to our happiness simply because we are under condemnation without a relationship with Jesus. However, if we know Jesus, “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1) Earthly philosophies are good since they seek after wisdom and typically the good of others, but what they fail to do is answer why are we here in an adequate way. We are here to know God.

Knowing God is the greatest happiness to be experienced. It is true for me, not because it is an abstract idea, but because it is a lived truth, as William James would have put it. Saint Augustine said in his confessions, regarding his happiness, “You stir man to take pleasure in praising you, because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” This idea of restlessness, Augustine gets at, is that we were designed by God for God. He has every right to seek us in a relationship, and we have every right to know Him and love Him. Because of sin, we are unable to fully walk with Him, yet He gives us redemption through Jesus to be totally reconciled. This is the gospel, “that He who knew no sin, because sin so that in [Jesus], we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor. 5:21) In Christianity, there is a different kind of justification, and it is my belief in God. The philosopher-theologian Saint Augustine knew this, and after he felt the weight of his own sin, he turned to God, and plead for his forgiveness before Him. We are made right with God by faith. In another letter to the church of Ephesus, Paul wrote, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this, not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” (Eph. 2:8) If you and I want to come into a relationship with God, according to the Bible, it is by faith alone. Without faith, we would not know God, as seen in Hebrews. When Saint Thomas Aquinas wrestled with this, he concluded that nothing is better than knowing God, stating, “The greatest happiness is for the mind to attain God.”

In the end, the only lasting happiness found in the scriptures is the joy of knowing God. Sure, you and I may take deep pleasure in other things, as we should, but our chief end is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever (namely Christian Hedonism). This definite statement will not sit well simply because we believe the notion of God, the notion of sin, and the notion of intimacy with God is far beyond us. Are we above the gospel? I certainly do not believe so, so know God and experience the joy of knowing Him, for if not there is all to lose, and little reward in the long run to gain. Let Him be our ultimate treasure for our joy and His glory.