It's not what you know but who you know...

If you're following the Read Scripture Bible reading programme I hope you're still enjoying it. We're now into Exodus, and the story of Moses and the escape from Egypt. And maybe with the exception of the 'bridegroom of blood' incident in chapter 4, the storyline is fairly easy to follow.

Sometimes when I'm reading the Bible I find a particular word used over and over again. I noticed this yesterday (Exodus 7-9) - you may have noticed it too. The word was 'know'. When I looked back at the previous day's reading it occurred there several times too - and again today.

At the beginning of this part of the story, as Moses and Aaron come to request the release of God's people we find Pharaoh declaring "I do not know the Lord and I will not let the people go" (5:2).

But God promises that he will deliver the people and as a result God says, "I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God". (6:7).

Because Pharaoh refuses to let the people go, God is going to bring the plagues on Egypt, to demonstrate his power, and as a result the people of Egypt too will "know that I am the Lord" (7:5).

In these readings Moses tells Pharaoh that there is no one like their God, that he is God of the land, in fact the earth belongs to him (7:17; 8:10, 22; 9:14, 29).

For Christmas I got some iTunes vouchers and used them to buy an 'NIV Word Study Bible with GK & Strong's Numbers' to go with the Olive Tree Bible software that I use. One of the great things about this book is that you can engage with the original languages that the Bible was written in without having spent years and years learning Greek or Hebrew. You can select an English word - easily find out what that is in Hebrew - and then do a search on that Hebrew word. The value of this is that sometimes our English translations use a range of different English words to translate the same Hebrew word.

In this case, this kind of search shows that in 2:25 "So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them" the word translated 'concerned' is the same word that has been translated 'know' in the above examples. 

[At this point it is always helpful to check some alternative translations before you try and build a whole Bible study on some limited Hebrew or Greek. One of the things we were warned at college was that the only thing more dangerous than no New Testament Greek was a little New Testament Greek! This is where online tools such as Bible Gateway come in very useful.]

The ESV translates this verse - 'God saw the people of Israel - and God knew'. The ASV (American Standard Version) says - 'And God saw the children of Israel, and God took knowledge of them'. The NKJV says - '...and God acknowledged them'.

The people are known by God and God wants them to know him. We too are known by God and can know God ourselves.

Here are a few verses to take those thoughts a bit further:

• Psalm 46:10
• 1 Corinthians 2:2
• 1 Corinthians 13:12
• Philippians 3:10

Aladdin's Three Wishes

According to the popular Christmas pantomime when Aladdin rubbed his magic lamp out popped a genie who could grant him three wishes. For many who claim to be Christians this is the way they view God and prayer - summoning God when it is convienient (i.e. when they're in a crisis) with a wish list - success in a job interview, healing, that there will be a free parking space ... God is interested in all these things but prayer is much more than a wish list, and God so much more than a pantomime genie. And whist these things are important - they are not the most important things.

When Paul prays for the Christians in Ephesus (Ephesians 1:15-23) he prays 4 things for them. 1) That they would know God better. 2) That they would know the hope to which God has called them. 3) That they would know that they are a part of God's inheritance. 4) And that they would know God's great power at work in them.

If God were to grant you three wishes what would you ask for? I wonder how many people would 'waste' one of their wishes on 'knowing God better'! Yet for Paul there was nothing more important (e.g. Philippians 3:10). But as a Christian I should be doing all I can to know God better.

Many might ask for the power of God - wouldn't it be great to go round healing people with just a touch, turn water into wine, raise the dead... But I wonder whether my ego could cope with that kind of power. Would I use it or abuse it? Yet this power is available to us. But why don't we see it more? Maybe God protects us from ourselves. Maybe there is a reason that this is at the end of the list. Maybe other things need to come first: faith in Jesus and love for all God's people (v15); a deeper knowledge of God (17); a life that brings hope to those around through acts of kindness which point to the possiblity of new creation; and the joy and inner confidence in knowing who we are in Christ, that comes from seeing yourself as a part of God's inheritance (18).