Second, God reveals Himself through His Word in the Bible (2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21). In fact, we may only know what God is revealing about Himself through the creation by looking to see what He has to say about Himself through the Scriptures. The Scriptures are the lens through which we may discern the revelation of God in the created order. The more we read and study the Scripture, the more we learn about God and the better equipped we will be to discern His revelation in the creation.

But third, and most importantly, God reveals Himself to us through His Word in Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word and Son of God (John 1:1-14). In fact, Jesus is the theme of all Scripture (John 5:39). Wherever we read in Scripture, the Word of God written is pointing to the Word of God in Jesus. Thus also, in a very real sense, wherever we study in the world of creation, we should also be looking to discover something about the beauty, goodness, and truth of God as these are revealed in Jesus.

The knowledge of God is revealed in His Word. Jesus is the Rosetta Stone of revelation, the Focusing Light of God’s self-revelation. By looking to Jesus and receiving Him, we gain the key to understanding Scripture, the Great Light of revelation, and this, in turn, enables us to read the Lesser Light of creation in a way that advances the knowledge of God in us. The knowledge of God begins by receiving His Word.

Once we have determined to receive the Word of God, then we are ready to seek the knowledge of God in all these arenas of revelation. Solomon explains the conditions and qualifications whereby we may hope to benefit from having received the Word of God.

First, we must treasure the Law of God which we find revealed in His Word (v. 1). In order truly to know God as He reveals Himself in His Law, we must strive to attain the place the psalmist realized when he cried, “Oh how I love Your Law! It is my meditation all the day” (Psalm 119:97). This only makes sense. Jesus, the Word of God, loved the Law so much that He fulfilled it in exhaustive detail (Matthew 5:15-17). John insists that those who want to follow Jesus will seek to do the same (1 John 2:1-6). If we do not love the commandments of God, we will not be able to make progress in knowing Him.

Second, we must seek the wisdom that comes from the Word of God (v. 2). Wisdom is simply living in a way that reflects the good purposes of God. We don’t seek the Word just to hide it in our hearts or understand it with our minds. We seek the Word of God, and the knowledge of God to which the Word leads us, so that we might live in wisdom as God intends. To do this we will need to engage the Word with our minds (v. 2), embrace it in our hearts (v. 2), value it as our top priority in life (vv. 3, 4), and live in obedience to what it teaches.

This matter of seeking the knowledge of God—to understand, embrace, value, and obey it—through the various avenues of His Word must be an urgent and constant quest. Solomon says we need to cry and plead with God to give us the insight and understanding we seek (v. 3). We will not gain the knowledge of God if we regard it as anything other than the most important undertaking of our lives, every day of our lives. A merely casual approach to seeking the knowledge of God will not result in that objective. We must be urgent, determined, resolved, focused each day, and giving ourselves to the study of God’s Word in all its aspects and expressions.