Don't You Know Me?

“Jesus answered, ‘Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time?”  John 14:9.

Jesus had shown the disciples the constant love and miracles from God.  They had watched Him raise Lazarus from the dead…turn water into wine…feed thousands from a mere basket of food…heal the demon possessed…heal a woman from her touch of His mere hem.  And yet, Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father and they would believe.  Can you imagine Jesus’ exasperation when, after all they had witnessed firsthand, they still wanted more proof? 

We are not much different as His disciples today.  We ask for things we have already been given.  We experience His daily provisions and resources, and yet we fear we will lack something later.  We experience healing in one area while not believing Him in another area.  We are delivered from one sin only to turn to another.  God has promised us complete faithfulness in all things, if we will get into His word.  It is only when we pursue Him, His word and His will that we will really know Him.  Through our intimacy with Him we gain knowledge of Him which becomes the path of overcoming sin and temptation.  1 John 2:14 states:  ‘You are strong, and the word of God remains/lives in you.’  This tells us that when we have God living on the inside of us, we have everything we need to be victorious.  ‘Here we see that living by God’s Word is inextricably connected to our strength to overcome.  I meet so many people who are stuck in unrelenting misery, broken relationships, even tragic situations because they’re committed to doing things their way instead of being led by the Word of God that abides in them.  Simply put, living by God’s Word is power over our adversary.’ Kelly Minter, What Love Is, p. 56.

Christ has been with us since we have invited Him into our hearts.  It is our responsibility to really get to know Him so that we can recognize His hand in everything.  We can recall His past faithfulness and expect future deliverances.  We can confidently look at the unfolding circumstances and say, ‘I know Him, that’s Jesus!’