I Know Whom I Have Believed

I grew up singing hymns, as well as traditional worship songs in my childhood church. There were song books at the back of each pew and my earliest memories of entertaining myself at church were leafing through these books. When I go over those old hymns now, I hear the warmth of voices singing a cappella in a church, many familiar faces of church family I love; plain voices lifted to the Lord, with words of simple and deep truth. 

Songs like: What A Friend We Have In Jesus, Nothing But the Blood, It Is Well With My Soul, and Great Is Thy Faithfulness

When I think of a song that holds deep meaning to me personally in my adult years, I think of these lyrics:

I know not why God’s wondrous grace
To me he hath made known,
Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love
Redeemed me for his own. 

But, “I know whom I have believed 
and am persuaded that he is able,
To keep that which I’ve committed 
unto him against that day.” 

You see, the Lord has given me many opportunities to learn trust in my life. And I’ve learned this precious thing: that there is a result to waiting, grieving, and submitting one’s dreams to the Lord. 

We receive this beautiful opportunity to get to know the Lord.  

Knowing and Waiting

I remember singing this song amidst a long wait for a husband in my late twenties -- wondering if marriage would ever come, or if I’d been forgotten -- and yet putting my trust in the Lord. 

Those moments of choosing to trust God aren’t often filled with complete confidence; in fact, the “trust” is what is being established. Thankfully God accepts faith the size of a mustard seed. It is in that journey that he teaches us his goodness, his faithfulness and his trueness to his promises.

You see, as Steffany Gretzinger said in a recent prayer/worship set of Way Maker, “Sometimes we sing because we’re sure, and sometimes we sing until we know.”

Worship and song has a powerful way of helping us vocalize that practice of belief (Colossians 3:16). We sing something, again and again, accompanied by the help of the Holy Spirit, until it becomes a reality in our lives. It is truly a spiritual discipline.

Now, looking back to when I felt like time was running out, I see that God had perfect timing, that I was indeed not forgotten; his fulfillment of his purpose, after I had waited on him, was so much greater than what I could’ve imagined. 

Now, I sing these lyrics, “I know whom I have believed (stop me there, I’m getting misty-eyed), and am persuaded (yes, now I am convinced), that he is able, to keep that which I’ve committed, unto him, against that day,”  and I’m overcome with such a sweet, sweet understanding of who God is. I know him better, and I know I can trust him. 

Let us Know the Lord

Isn’t this how we come to truly know things in life? Not through information alone, but the testing of it in real life? Through our experiences we learn to know God. And this, I think, is one of God’s greatest longings for us. Listen to his words in the Scriptures: 

“Come let us know the Lord, let us press on to know the Lord” (Hosea 6:3). 

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3).

“This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 9:23-24).

I think that it is only once we’ve experienced hardship of our own, and we have chosen to trust the Lord in the midst of it, that can we truly relate to what Paul is telling the church in Phillipians:

“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ  and be found in him - that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings” (Phil. 3:8b-11a).

So what’s your favorite song or hymn? What’s your life story, and tell me, what do you know about our God? 

Keep on keeping on dear and beloved one, there are good things on the other side of every rough road. You are a privileged child of God.   

I know not what of good or ill
May be reserved for me,
Of weary ways or golden days,
Before his face I see.

But, “I know whom I have believed 
and am persuaded that he is able,
To keep that which I’ve committed 
unto him against that day.”