Some years ago, a minister friend of mine was telling me that he had a meeting he had to attend, and his teenage son asked him if it would be alright if he tagged along. The father said the meeting would be long and tedious and the boy would be bored out of his skull. The boy said to his father, “You will be there, won’t you?” The father said, “Yes.” And his son said, “Then it won’t be too bad.” Now, how do you think that made my friend feel? My friend said that occasionally, his son would ask him questions like “Who was your favorite band when you were in high school?” or “Who is your favorite quarterback?” or “Who will you vote for to be president?” The boy asked questions like this because he wanted to know his father, and this desire pleased his father very much.

In the same way, God is pleased with our desire to know Him. Some people approach this in a backwards manner. They try to develop an image of God that pleases them. I have heard of a church a number of years ago that had a notice on the bulletin board for a workshop called “Do It Yourself Theology.” The poster said the workshop would help “develop a concept of God you can live with.”

This is not the way to approach God. We cannot say, “This is the kind of God that pleases me, so this is how I want you to be.” Instead, our attitude must be, “God, reveal yourself to me. Show me the way you are.”

Do you want to please God? Then, get to know Him. You do that by spending time with Him. God wants us to know Him, and he will make Himself known if we will make the effort to know Him. The more time we spend in God’s presence, in His word, the more we will know what God is really like.