“The modern scientists has lost God amid the wonders of the world; we Christians are in real danger of losing God amid the wonders of His Word. We have almost forgotten that God is a person and, as such, can be cultivated as any person can. It is inherent in personality to be able to know other personalities, but full knowledge of one personality by another cannot be achieved in one encounter. It is only after long and loving mental intercourse that the full possibilities of both can be explored.” –A.W. Tozer
It is interesting to think of how Tozer has put this. Scientists (some of them) and lovers of “nature” have gotten so enamored with nature and its complexities and beauty that they have forgotten the Creator of all of those wonders. In one sense scientists and lovers of nature are caught up with what they know and how those things can make them feel. It becomes abhorrent to them that there is a grand Designer of it all. But they have lost sight of God in those things where His glory shines. They may study things about the sun and the moon and really forget that those great luminaries in the sky shine the glory of God upon them. Some are so enamored with trees and mountains that they forget that those things testify to the wisdom and majesty of God. Some are so caught up with the animals that they forget the One who designed them, feeds them, and manifests His glory through them. We wonder how anyone could not see God and His glory through His creation. Christians are amazed that anyone could be so blind.
However, within Christendom many are even blinder in one sense. We have the glory of God shining through His specific revelation to man and even more through Christ the very outshining of His glory. Within the confines of evangelical churches as well as liberal organizations many are fervent in their study of the Bible. What is wrong with that? Well, in one sense nothing. But we must also remember that the scribes, Sadducees, and the Pharisees were given to diligent study of the Bible. Jesus told the Sadducees that they were mistaken because they did not understand the Scriptures nor the power of God (Mathew 22:19). Jesus took the scribes and the Pharisees to task throughout the Sermon on the Mount when He repeatedly corrected their misinterpretations. In fact, the case could be made that Jesus spent a lot of His time correcting the wrong teachings of the scribes and the Pharisees. We also see Paul doing that to the various churches. So we must be careful if we assume that just because we know a lot of things about the Bible that we know the Bible. This is a terrible delusion.
What we have in modern evangelical thinking is a massive number of helps and commentaries on and about the Bible. We think that because we know many things about the Bible we must know God. After all, the Bible is the revelation of God. But we must be very careful about this. In the Old Testament we find over and over that the people of God were constantly told by God that they did not know Him. In other words, just hanging out at religious services (even if commanded by God) does not necessarily lead a person to know God. Studying the Bible does not necessarily lead a person to know God any more than reading a biography necessarily means that we know the author. We might read several books by an author and books on the author without knowing the author. This is exactly what is going on within the churches today. People have given themselves to study and some spiritual disciplines (as they are called) but these do not necessarily lead people to know God.
When people get caught up in various moral or spiritual activities, they might be in great danger of losing sight of God. The hearts of atheists and the irreligious are quite proud in their suppressing of the knowledge of God. But the hearts of people also can suppress the truth of God in the midst of Bible study and prayer. The heart is so deceitful and not one can know it but God and those He wants to show it to (Jer 17:9). So people can apply a salve to their conscience by learning many things about the Bible and even certain things about God and the Gospel without ever knowing God. This is, in one sense, a very tragic thing. It is like dying of thirst while laying in flowing water. Eternal life is to know God (John 17:3). It is not to know about God and it is not necessarily found in knowing many things about the Bible. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (I John 4:7-8). It matters not how much one knows about God and the Bible if it does not lead to a loving and knowing God. All of that knowledge will only condemn a person even more if he or she does not know and love God. This is a person losing God in the midst of the wonders of His Word.
God Loves... Himself 
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