If one of us asks himself, "Why am I falling behind? Why do I err? Why am I not pious as I should be?" We answer him by saying, "Because You lack knowing Allah". When man gets acquainted with the Law-Giver, and he knows the order, he will devotedly carry the order out, but when he knows the order without knowing the One Who gives it, he will skillfully elude it.

 When man knows that Allah encompasses him by His Knowledge and His Omnipotence, he will carry out His Orders. Let me give you an example from our daily life: the red traffic light is a sign for drivers to stop and not to pass it, and they all abide by it, because they know that the traffic police will reach them by the power of law, but when does the driver pass the red light? He does that only in two cases; The first case is when the time is very late at night (like midnight), so there is no traffic policeman on duty, and no one will know of his violation, and the second one is if this driver is more powerful than the one who has put the traffic laws, and in this case the power of law is not enough. Allah the Almighty says:

﴾ It is Allah Who has created seven heavens and of the earth the like thereof (i.e. seven). His Command descends between them (heavens and earth), that you may know that Allah has power over all things, and that Allah surrounds (comprehends) all things in (His) Knowledge. ﴿

[At-Talaaq, 12]

 The reason behind creating the heavens and the earth and everything in them is to make man know that Allah's Omnipotence and Knowledge reach him, and only then, he would not disobey Allah. Muslims neglected Allah's Orders, so Allah neglected them, but why did they neglect Allah's Orders in the first place? They did that, because they stopped acknowledging Allah's Greatness:

﴾(It will be said): "Seize him and fetter him* Then throw him in the blazing Fire* "Then fasten him with a chain whereof the length is seventy cubits!"* Verily, He used not to believe in Allah, the Most Great, ﴿

[Al-Haqqa, 30-33]

 He believed in Allah but not as the Greatest. I would like to explain to you the difference between worshiping and having knowledge by giving you this example; If the professor who has been teaching at a university for 30, is used to greet the janitor every day, and the latter stands up to him out of respect and greets him, does this mean that the janitor gets to know this professor more and more as time passes? No, it does not, while the student who attends the professor's lectures gets to know him more as long as he attends his lectures regularly. Much in the same line, when man is satisfied only with offering his acts of worship to Allah, his resistance to temptations will be fragile, and he will not be able to resist any seduction or pressure, whereas the believer who got acquainted with Allah, will be steadfast, and he will not change his stance even if he is offered the shiny gold, or if he is tortured by the vigorous whips of the whippers.

((It was narrated that Ibn 'Abbas said: "The Messenger of Allah said: 'One Faqih (knowledgeable man) is more formidable against the Shaitan than one thousand devoted worshippers.'"))

[At-Tirmizi and Ibn Majah]