The Power of Saving Knowledge

“Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works” (Psalm 119:27).  Again and again in this psalm and in others, David asks God for knowledge and understanding.  This teaches us that a sound and saving knowledge of the truths of God’s word is such a blessing, that we can never ask for too much, or do so too often.  The understanding that David pleads for is that which gives us sound judgment and right desires; it leads us to experience the power and comfort that Scripture offers us.  The effect of saving knowledge is that it brings the soul under the liberating power of truth.  Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  Knowledge must come before the saving influences.  All grace, from first to last, comes in by the understanding.  “May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord” (2 Peter 1:2).  If we had more knowledge of God and His ways, we should reverence and trust Him more.  In 2 Timothy 1:12, Paul wrote that his faith in God was grounded on his knowledge of Him: “I know whom I have believed.”  Thomas Manton declared, “To be taught the mind of God is a greater act of friendship than if God should give a person all the treasures of the world.”