Indeed in light of the infinite glory and majesty of His Being is it possible to know God? Is He not incomprehensible, how can we know the unknowable? The answer is that the infinite God declares that finite man can know Him since He has made Himself known – and that not with resulting frustration, but rather with abiding joy, satisfaction and fulfilment.

What can you say about a generation that thinks God is dead and Elvis is alive!

The Yiddish word “chutzpah” seems right. It has no English equivalent, but it refers to one who has an attitude of incredible gall or presumption.

The classic example of a chutzpah is the young man who murders his parents and then asks the court to show mercy because he is an orphan. Now, if we are inclined to smile at that, it isn’t because we think murder is funny! We are amused at the ridiculousness of the situation.

Every generation has its set of values and priorities, yet as we look around our own we see it is not really that different to what God declares of Jeremiah’s day.

Some in our day place ‘wisdom’ (whether in terms of education, culture, scientism, mysticism, etc) at the top of the list. Others place ‘power’ there (personal or collective). To them it means everything, they spend their whole life pursuing and exercising it. Still others give their allegiance to ‘wealth’, the accumulation of things. And increasingly we see that for others it is more the doing of things – ie, experiences. They live for thrills, for travelling, trying new things, being at the cutting edge, etc. Though this could also be placed under the general heading of ‘power’ and even that of ‘wealth’.

The Bible teaches that God can be known. The God of the Universe has chosen to reveal Himself to us. In Jeremiah 9:24 He declares that His people “understand and know Him”

Join us at SYPC in this series of Discipleship Seminars as we will be looking at several chapters of JI Packer’s Knowing God