Knowing God is our greatest goal as creatures made in His image. This knowledge is not an arrival destination but a growth journey. Our Christian lives are more than a self-improvement endeavor, but a personal relationship with our Lord in the truest sense of the word. So how do we foster a deeper connection with God so that we can go beyond knowing about Him to knowing Him intimately on a personal level?

Knowing God on a deeper level goes beyond feelings of intimacy. This comes from God revealing Himself to us and our seeking Him. He wants to show us His glory; we need to go deeper than the outward shows of the miraculous to see Him manifesting His glory, even amid life’s greatest difficulties. As God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah: “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13).

How, then, do we seek God so that we know Him more deeply? If we put on blinders and only look for Him in a narrowly defined set of parameters, we will quickly become disappointed by God. An excellent way to expand our vision is to put on a spiritual lens to see what God has said about Himself in Scripture. This will extend the kinds of things to look for, which, with the aid of the Holy Spirit enlightening our mind and spirit, enables us to see God’s involvement more clearly in our lives. In this, we discover He is there for us and with us. And like the apostle Paul, we will nurture the desire to “know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Phil. 3:10).

We begin by learning about God so we may come to know Him. One way to do that is by reading through a book of the Bible with one overriding question in mind, “What does this book tell me about God, His nature, and what He’s like?” For example, take the writings of Jeremiah, which many find somewhat depressing, if not hard to understand. To be sure, historical background helps us know what is prompting the reasons for his writings, but ultimately, what does the prophet tell us about God? 

My method is to read through the book and focus on statements that show something about how God thinks, acts and responds. What aspects of character do we see? Identify keywords or ideas that repeat throughout the book and collect the references by topic. As you work through the book, God’s character traits and tendencies begin to surface. This list becomes a springboard to knowing Him better and moving beyond the limited scope we have settled on before.

The following list from the Book of Jeremiah is by no means exhaustive, but this will give an idea of what can be done with any book of the Bible. The topics can be anything related to His character or His relationship with us. You can also use a concordance or word search on keywords.

The Book of Jeremiah

• God’s Anger – 6:11, 7:20, 10:24-25, 12:8, 12:13, 15:14, 17:4, 18:23, 21:5, 23:20, 25:6-7, 30:24, 32:31-32, 33:5, 36:7, 42:18, 44:8, 49:37, 51:45
• Compassion – 12:15, 13:14, 16:5, 21:7b, 42:12
• Creator – 10:12-13, 14:22, 18:6, 27:5
• Eternal Existence – 10:10
• Faithfulness – 11:8, 29:10, 31:36, 42:5, 51:12
• Fatherhood – 3:19
• Forgiveness – 3:12, 5:7, 18:23, 31:34, 36:3, 50:20
• Goodness – 31:14, 31:25, 32:42, 33:9
• Grace – 3:12, 31:2
• Greatness – 10:6
• Holiness – 2:22, 16:17, 51:5
• Immanence – 14:9, 20:11, 23:23, 30:11
• Judgment – 1:15-16, 2:30, 2:35, 4:4, 4:8, 4:11-12, 4:26, 4:27, 5:9, 5:18-19, 5:29, 11:20, 11:22, 23:29, 25:31, 30:11, 32:18, 46:28
• Life-giving – 2:13
• Loving-kindness – 9:24, 16:5, 31:3, 32:18, 33:11
• Omnipotence – 16:19, 17:21, 32:17, 32:27, 50:34, 51:15-16
• Omnipresence – 2:6, 14:9, 15:1, 23:24
• Omniscience – 1:5, 7:16, 11:14, 11:3, 17:10
• Protection – 1:18-19
• Recompense – 51:56
• Restoration – 33:6-9, 11 (all of ch. 33)
• Requires confession/repentance – 3:13, 3:22, 4:1-2, 4:14, 36:3,7, 44:10
• Righteousness – 2:5, 7:5-7, 9:24, 11:20, 12:1, 20:12, 21:12, 22:13, 22:16, 23:5-6, 33:15-16, 50:7
• Salvation – 3:23, 17:14, 29:10-14, 30:10-11, 31:11, 46:27
• Shepherd/caring – 3:15, 31:10
• Sovereignty – 1:5, 1:9-10, 1:12, 10:7, 18:6, 33:17
• Truth – 4:2, 5:3, 23:28, 33:6,
• Unchanging – 4:28, 15:6, 18:7-10, 26:3, 26:13, 26:19, 42:10
• Uniqueness – 10:6-7, 50:44
• Vengeance – 11:20, 15:15, 20:12, 46:10, 50:15, 28, 51:6