Encounter
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| Only One had the creative power to bring something into existence from absolutely nothing |
However, when the Lord begins to deal personally with an individual, He will first ensure that they are clear on the matter of identity. This is settled on a personal level.
It may come about through a crisis experience in which the individual's eyes are opened and they suddenly are aware of Him in a way they had never seen or imagined before. This instantly results in them seeing their own selves in a way they have never thought of before.
It is easy to see why it is so crucial. A false perception of who He is and who we are inevitably results in a wreckage of the purpose for which we were created.
One such life-changing revelation occurred by the lake of Gennessaret. A group of experienced fishermen had spent the entire night applying years of expertise without any success. Despite their best efforts, they caught nothing.
These were people who were born into the Jewish faith and knew about God. When Christ stepped onto the scene, their circumstances changed dramatically. Within moments, the same fishermen found their boats sinking under the weight of an incredible catch.
So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Luke 5:7-8)
Note that this sudden conviction on Peter's part did not come about through any deep self-evaluation, meditation, or psycho-analysis. Neither was it through sessions of study, training or counseling. There is not even a record in this account of Jesus addressing Himself personally to Peter concerning Peter's own character or morality. The revelation dawned upon him instantly, without any effort on his part or anyone else's.
Peter was an experienced fisherman and he knew without a doubt that this shoal of fish did not exist before. He and his colleagues had clear evidence - an entire night of hard work. There could be only one explanation. The source of provision had to be supernatural, for only One had the creative power to bring something into existence from absolutely nothing. He was instantly drawn to the Source and in His presence,
Peter's eyes were opened. He recognized the true identity of the One who had come into their midst. In turn, his own life was exposed for what it truly was. Light had come in the form of a Person and in that light, Peter began to see what he had never seen before.
In him was life,and the life was the light of men. (John 1:4)
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. (John 1: 9)
Even today, there are some who can relate to this experience, much like Peter. Their circumstances may have been different, but they were confronted with the reality of the living Christ. In an instant, their lives were exposed for what they truly were, like the blinding light that came upon Paul on his way to Damascus. This encounter brought about conviction and godly sorrow over the sinful, selfish way of life they had been walking in. Many of these can testify today that after confession and receiving forgiveness, their lives had a new start and their walk of faith began.
What the believer experiences during new birth is real. The release, the cleansing, the forgiveness, the peace of mind, the joy of salvation. However, it is so crucial to understand that this is not all there is to the ultimate purpose of God. Consider the patriarchs. Each had special moments in their lives when they encountered God and it ushered in a new understanding and a new change.
However, during the course of their sojourning, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob continued to encounter the same God they had met at the beginning, but who was now revealing Himself in title or name different from what they knew. What would happen is that the patriarch would build an altar at the place where this encounter had taken place and would name that territory after the revelation of God that had been received. This kept on happening throughout their lives and it is how they grew in their walk with Him. Moving from one revelation to the next, they stayed on course and they were able to fulfill the purposes of God for their generation.
A major part of the challenges believers face today stems from the fact that we assume the revelation of God we received at the beginning of our walk is sufficient. We encounter Him as Savior, and then spend years after that building our entire lives on that understanding. Little wonder then that we are perplexed, when situations begin to come into our lives that are inconsistent with the view we are used to.
There are many right now who do not know how to deal with what is happening in their lives because the view of God they hold does not match up with their present experiences. They begin to think that the spiritual life is not really intended for the challenges of every day modern life and as such, must only be limited to Sundays and Wednesday nights. This is exactly what the enemy wants. However, the problem is that unlike the partriachs, our knowledge of Him has not grown beyond Savior. So before we begin asking questions like “where was God when this or that happened to me?” let us be first clear on the matter of identity. Who exactly do we say that He is?
Not only are there several attributes and titles of the nature of God, He is continually revealing Himself and each attribute has depths in it countless times beyond the capacity of man to grasp. The cherubim who stand before Him continually cry out “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come.” They do not do this out of a sense of obligation or duty. It is a spontaneous cry that echoes from the depths of their being as each time He reveals Himself in a new and fearsome way, they are gripped with His awesome greatness and worship Him with holy dread.
This is what happens when veils are removed and His identity, the depths of His attributes are revealed. If we remain only attached to one aspect of His character that we feel most comfortable with and fail to venture into knowing Him fully, we will not have the foundation required to stand in our times and will not be able to guard ourselves against being deceived. In the last days only those who know their God will be strong and do great exploits (Daniel 11:32).
Moreover, consider the Kingdom He is building. It is an ever-increasing Kingdom. There will be no limit or end to the increase of His government (Isaiah 9:6-7). In like manner, citizens of the Kingdom must also be continually growing in their capacity to both receive and understand. The Spirit has been given to guide us into all truth and we are admonished not just to start knowing Him, but to grow in our knowledge of Him. Therefore, change has to continually take place in the human container that is going to be the habitation of God in the Spirit. How we know Him today ought to be different from how we knew Him yesterday and yesteryear. This too is part of the new creation. It is a nature that is ever increasing in its capacity to be enlightened and transformed.
