I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You”
Job 42:4, NASB
Some things you have to see to believe.
I had heard a few mentions about pajama jeans from friends, but then I saw the commercial myself for this “hot new fashion sensation.” They “look like designer jeans, but are so comfortable, you’ll want to sleep in them!” Wow! They really exist! It’s not that I thought my friends were making them up before. They are trustworthy people and if they said jeans existed that were really pajama pants, I knew they were telling the truth. Yet, until I saw the pictures with my own eyes, I had no way of envisioning how this fashion enigma looked in actuality. I had no personal understanding or experience.
Isn’t it the same in our relationship with God? We hear about Him, we talk about Him, we read about Him, we listen to other people postulate about Him. In groups, we listen to people talk about hearing from God as if it’s no big deal; it just happens all the time. We perhaps nod our head knowingly and privately wonder what that’s like. What does His voice sound like? How do you know what God is saying?
In some cases, knowing God is twisted and deformed into knowing about God. In essence, our walk with Him becomes an academic exercise rather than a personal relationship. Job and his friends participated in just such a round-table discussion. There Job sat in the sackcloth and ashes of mourning, devastated by the loss of his children, his wealth, and his personal health, and his friends stood around him philosophizing and debating. “God would do this. He wouldn’t do that.” So many opinions about how God works and what kind of box you can put God into. For 33 chapters in this book, they talk, talk, and talk some more about God.
We sometimes think we know a lot about God, but then we have the opportunity to see Him for ourselves, to experience Him in a way that is real and personal. It’s our moment to believe Him—not just believe in Him and believe that He exists. No, truly believe Him. Believe what He says. Believe in His promises to us. Believe His character—that He loves us, that He’s mighty, that He’s kind. It’s a seeing that only comes through experiencing.
Job met God in just such a way. Ultimately, God ended the theological debate between Job and his friends “and now, finally, God answered Job from the eye of a violent storm. He said: ‘Why do you confuse the issue? Why do you talk without knowing what you’re talking about?'” (Job 38:1, MSG). Why all of this intellectual discussion when you actually know so little about me? Then Job answered the LORD and said,”I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted . . . I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You” (Job 42:2, 4). Priscilla Shirer in One in a Million paraphrases this as, “Now I know you by experience.”
The Apostle Paul, himself no stranger to hardship, wrote to the Corinthian church: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed . . . All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 4:8, 15, NIV). A pastor at a recent conference I attended broke this down: All of the trials and difficulties and dark days lead us to understand God’s grace. That helps more and more people know God and so we give thanks and give God the glory.
My personal “experience” with pajama jeans didn’t involve any cost or discomfort. It was a safe and painless exposure. Yet, sometimes with God, He takes us through the difficult times and the seasons of loss and hurt until finally, like Job, we haven’t just heard other people talk about God, but we’ve seen Him ourselves. We now know the sound of His voice because His Word has become real to us, present, active and alive as a result of our desperate searching for Him in the midst of difficult days. It’s all for our benefit, so we can experience His grace, know His voice, see His hand—all with our own eyes. And then we believe. And others believe because they are watching us. And God is glorified. And that is enough.
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Heather King is a wife, mom, Bible Study teacher, writer for www.myfrienddebbie.com and worship leader. Most importantly, she is a Christ follower with a desire to help others apply the Bible to everyday life with all its mess, noise, and busyness. To read more devotionals by Heather King, click here.
Copyright © 2011 Heather King