Knowing God is the high calling of the Christian endeavor, for it leads us to praise and worship, our ultimate purpose in life. But how do we grow in our knowledge of God? One way is to look for God as we study the Scriptures. The three operative questions (I call them mental crowbars) in studying the Bible for all its worth is to ask three questions of each passage being studied: 1) What does this passage say about God? 2) What does it say about humanity (you and me)? 3) What does it say about the relationship between the two? The given passage you are reading may not yield answers to all three questions, but the effort of trying to answer them will produce fodder for contemplating the spiritual meaning of each.

The first question, “What does this passage say about God?” can be answered in various ways. Can you see His hand in the historical references or allusions? Are there explicit statements, for example, “God is like _______?” An example of this method of discovering God is to look for specific statements that describe Him or showcase His many names and epithets. These all uncover a deeper understanding of God and what He is like.

Why go through this exercise? The answer is simple: the more we know about God, the more confidently we can pray to Him about our individual needs. When we pray, we can bring to bear the attributes of God that come into play for this or that individual need.

Consider the book of Jeremiah, which many find challenging to understand. Even the youngest or newest believer can glean great truths about God by looking for Him in this book, that is, by finding statements about what He is like. May you grow in your understanding of God as you consider thirty-one of His characteristics and attributes in this brief outline from Jeremiah: Attributes of God in Jeremiah.

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