“For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14 KJV). This prophetic vision inspired the founders of American Bible Society 200 years ago, and it still drives us today. But it raises an important question: What do we mean by knowledge?

This makes me think of my son Jack Jack. This toddler is a delightful boy to know, but if you get in his face and demand affection or information, he will screech or run. You don’t know Jack—unless you approach him on his own terms. But enter a relationship and commit to loving him over time, and unexpected adventures begin. In this way, God is like Jack Jack.

The Bible records dozens of times when God says someone will “know that I am the LORD” (1 Kings 20:13; Isaiah 45:3; Jeremiah 24:7; etc.). Each of these encounters goes one of two ways, depending on their willingness to trust. God invites people into a transformative relationship based on trust and obedience, but some refuse to enter. They “know” God, but at a distance.

Tale of Two Nations

In the book of Exodus, two nations are given the same invitation. As the book begins, neither Israel nor Egypt really knows the Lord, but both are asked to trust God’s Word through Moses. Both are required to act on this trust, even before they have much information about Moses’ God.

Israel listens to Moses and achieves an “inside” knowledge of God. This is the type of knowledge that exists inside a covenant. Their obedience (in fits and starts) within an ongoing committed relationship allows them to become God’s people—and it opens up a surprising new future as God responds in power at the Red Sea.

Pharaoh, on the other hand, does not listen to Moses. He tries to stay in control. He does not enter into a covenant with God. Still, at the end of this story, Pharaoh does know a small amount about God—though he wishes he did not.

By trusting Moses and obeying God’s commands, Israel experiences a reality that Pharaoh does not and cannot know. This is why it’s such a problem when Israel later asks Samuel for a king “just like all the other nations” (1 Samuel 8:5 CEV). The whole point of being God’s covenant people is to become unlike other nations. Because the other nations don’t know God, they function in a different reality. Trying to model Israel on the other nations is rebellion, a fundamental failure of trust.

Written on their hearts

Rebellion recurs throughout Israel’s history, and it impedes their knowledge of God. The people misinterpret reality; they can’t even see what is right before their eyes (Ezekiel 12:2). And they’re dragged on a painful journey out of covenant knowledge and right back to the Egyptians’ level of knowledge about God.

But God is faithful to his promises even when we’re not. In Jeremiah 31 he offers a “new covenant” written on human hearts. “I will be their God, and they will be my people. None of them will have to teach a neighbor to know the LORD, because all will know me, from the least to the greatest” (Jeremiah 31:33-34a). In the new covenant, we still come to know the Lord by walking trustingly in God’s ways.

Jesus calls this being his disciples: If you don’t follow Jesus as the way, you will never know the truth or have the life. It is not by learning principles about Jesus that we attain relational, experiential knowledge, but in loving obedience.

“Christianese”

God gives us the desire to know him and makes our obedience possible (Jeremiah 24:7). As we walk out what he gives us by grace, we are gradually formed into people ready to experience more and more of his inexhaustible fullness.

But this relational knowledge is still opaque to people outside the relationship. God’s wisdom is foolishness to the Greeks, Paul says. What could this mean for us—for Christian leaders who reach out to the wider world?

For one thing, it means that all “Christianese” language—and perhaps even the Bible itself—sounds to unbelievers like they’re overhearing the coach of another team. These aren’t their plays being called. This is why it is generally useless to tell busy and cynical people “the Bible says.” Why should they care about instructions from our book? They may have a Pharaoh kind of knowledge about God, from the outside, but until they make that commitment, much of the truth that we hold so dear will seem pointless to them.

Authentic

So how can we draw them inside that relationship?

Knowledge is all about trust. Whom you trust determines how you act, determines what you can know. We must ask people to trust Jesus—but perhaps first they must trust us. We must invite them to imitate our obedience, invite them to try on life from the inside long enough to get a taste of God’s goodness for themselves, which can rouse their desire and expectation of more to come.

But why should they trust us in the first place? How do we earn trust? By focusing on authenticating ourselves and our message. It will be worth studying how God authenticated Moses and Samuel and other prophets—how Jesus authenticates himself and his followers.

But apart from miracles, we authenticate ourselves by having a reason for the hope inside, by bearing witness to what we have encountered. We demonstrate reasons to trust us by not trying to be like all the other nations—the other activities, businesses and entertainment options around us. We prove our truth-telling by the unexpected and inexplicable beauty, courage, authenticity, generosity, kindness, wholeness, and adventure that—by God’s grace—define our lives and our work. Above all we must earn trust by demonstrating consistent, sacrificial love for our neighbors.

Private lesson

Last month Jack Jack fell asleep in the car before church and slept through Sunday school. After church, he ran up to our deacon, threw his arms around her legs, and (I’m not exaggerating) begged, “Please, can I have Sunday school?”

So he got a private lesson during coffee hour.

His desire for a lesson about Jesus was the fruit of months of effort on Deacon Arica’s part: knowing, loving, and working with him. She has become a trusted source who can help Jack meet Jesus.

What can we do to become a trusted, authenticated source for those in our lives, in our cities, in our nation? May God use our lives and work to draw all people to know him in his glory, as he wills to be known. May our neighbors join us in walking that path of loving obedience that opens up a reality of love beyond all we can ask or think.