Do we know God or do we know about Him?

The apostle Paul tells us that knowing about God is not the same thing as knowing God. The following is an excerpt from John Piper's book, Taste and See - Savoring the Supremacy of God in All of Life, a collection of 140 meditations on bringing the reality of God into our lives

One of the reasons our witness to God’s reality is minimal is that our understanding of God’s reality is minimal. In the name of quick and relevant impact we minimize the very greatness that would be his renown. Without this, we will not boldly and graciously reassert his rightful place in all of life. What we need is a big picture of a great God who is utterly committed to joyfully demonstrating his greatness in doing us good. That is, we need to see the majesty of God and know the splendor of God overflowing toward us with exuberant omnipotence. It is not enough to believe that God is big and strong and fearsome—which he is. We must experience this magnificence as the explosion of God’s uncontainable zeal to satisfy his creatures by showing them himself.