Digital Learning Labs
Understanding God
Introduction
As we strive to better understand God, there are a few important questions to consider. In this self-guided study, you can explore four of these questions using the resources that follow. Each question includes a short video followed by an outline and a five-minute personal study guide. If you want to keep learning, additional resources are included at the end of each study guide.
Remember that growth is a journey, not a destination. These resources are ways for you to draw near to God right now, even if just for a few minutes in the midst of your everyday life. He’ll meet you there, and that’s where real growth happens.
Read James 4:7–10:
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Notice the verbs submit, come near, and humble yourselves. These words help us to understand what it looks like to approach an understanding of God. In essence, our understanding of him begins with our submission to him.
Drawing near to him means admitting our weakness and recognizing his strength. The promise then, is one of mutual nearness. When we draw near to him in humility, he draws near to us. Start by praying and talking to God about your desire to know him more.
Question 1: What picture of God do you have right now?
Question 2: How might this picture be based on your current circumstances or past experiences?
Question 3: What is motivating you to learn more about God? Do you have a question or doubt that you’re hoping to solve?
Using the truth from the James passage, write an equation for understanding God.
For example:
Understanding = Submitting + Praying OR Knowing = Trusting + Drawing Near
If you’re in a group, check out the study False Views of God.
Question 1: Do you see understanding God as an academic exercise? How has this approach helped or hurt your relationship with God in the past? What alternative approaches are there?
Question 2: If a child were to ask you, “Who is God?” what would you say? What part of that answer is most difficult for you to answer for yourself as an adult?
