How we read the Scriptures is governed by whether or not we have experienced God’s reality. A person who “knows” God will “hear” His word in a fundamentally different way from someone who has no knowledge of God. When I speak of knowing God, I mean it as Paul meant it when he said, “I know whom I have believed” (2Tim.1:12). Many people believe in God in some vague sense, but that is not a substitute for knowing God. Any faith that is not rooted in the experience of God will soon become narrow, dogmatic, and hostile to those who don’t share its views. But those who know God don’t behave in this way.