Host: Good morning. This is The Pursuit of God Daily for Tuesday, October thirteenth. We continue in chapter one of The Pursuit of God, Following Hard After God, this morning in the second of seven readings, where Tozer reminds us that God is a Person who can be known.

Reader: John chapter seventeen, verse three. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Reader: From A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, chapter 1, Following Hard After God.

Reader: The modern scientist has lost God amid the wonders of His world; we Christians are in real danger of losing God amid the wonders of His Word. We have almost forgotten that God is a Person and, as such, can be cultivated as any person can. It is inherent in personality to be able to know other personalities, but full knowledge of one personality by another cannot be achieved in one encounter. It is only after long and loving mental intercourse that the full possibilities of both can be explored.

Reader: All social intercourse between human beings is a response of personality to personality, grading upward from the most casual brush between man and man to the fullest, most intimate communion of which the human soul is capable. Religion, so far as it is genuine, is in essence the response of created personalities to the Creating Personality, God. “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

Reader: God is a Person, and in the deep of His mighty nature He thinks, wills, enjoys, feels, loves, desires and suffers as any other person may. In making Himself known to us He stays by the familiar pattern of personality. He communicates with us through the avenues of our minds, our wills and our emotions. The continuous and unembarrassed interchange of love and thought between God and the soul of the redeemed man is the throbbing heart of New Testament religion.

Reader: This intercourse between God and the soul is known to us in conscious personal awareness. It is personal: that is, it does not come through the body of believers, as such, but is known to the individual, and to the body through the individuals which compose it. And it is conscious: that is, it does not stay below the threshold of consciousness and work there unknown to the soul (as, for instance, infant baptism is thought by some to do), but comes within the field of awareness where the man can “know” it as he knows any other fact of experience.

Host: Tozer is saying something that should stop us in our tracks: it is possible to be busy with the Bible and still lose sight of the God who gave it. The Word is precious, but it is meant to bring us to a Person. And because God is a Person, He can be known, not in one meeting, but over a long and loving walk.

The Lord Himself said as much through Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter nine, verses twenty-three and twenty-four: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me." Notice what God delights in. Not our learning about Him, but our knowing Him, the One who exercises lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness.

The apostle Paul, who knew more Scripture than most of us ever will, still counted it all loss next to this. Philippians chapter three, verse ten: "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings." Paul had met Christ on the Damascus road years before, and yet he still longed to know Him. That is Tozer's point. Knowing God is a relationship that grows, not a box we check once.

Tozer also says this knowing is personal and conscious. It is not something that happens only to the church in general, or only somewhere below our awareness. Romans chapter eight, verse sixteen: "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." The Holy Spirit speaks to the believer's own heart, and the believer can know it.

So here is something to carry into today. When you open your Bible, before you read, stop and speak to God as a Person: Lord, I want to meet You here, not just learn about You. Then read slowly, and when a verse tells you something about who He is, answer Him. Thank Him, confess to Him, ask Him. Let the reading become a conversation. And somewhere in the middle of your work today, pause for one moment and simply tell Him you love Him. That is how friendship with God is cultivated, one honest exchange at a time.

Host: Father, You are not an idea to be studied but the living God to be known. Forgive us for the times we have handled Your Word and missed You. By Your Spirit, draw us into real fellowship with You and with Your Son, Jesus Christ. Let us know You today, with our minds, our wills, and our hearts. In Jesus' name, amen.

Host: Our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. First John chapter one, verse three. Go with God.