Job 42:5 "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye has seen You"

Most of us know the story of Job. The Bible says he was a man who loved God and hated evil..and yet he went through so much in his life..the loss of his possessions, the loss of his children..the loss of his health..and with no real help or compassion from anyone. His three "friends" were clearly wrong. They had made the mistake of thinking that Job's suffering was caused by something he had done wrong, and they advised Job accordingly. Even Job's own wife told him to simply curse God and die.

Job must have felt so alone. Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever gone through something so difficult, so traumatic, that you wondered how you would ever make it through..and then on top of everything else, you felt alone..you felt like no one understood, and you wondered where God was in all of this that you were facing?

Sometimes when we don't have an understanding of what is happening to us..or why it is being allowed to happen, we can form in our hearts, very unfortunately, a lack of trust in the Lord. When we simply can't see Him in our situation, when we have prayed and received no answer, or when a situation goes on for a long period of time..we can get to the point where we question..if God is truly in control, how could He let this happen?

I remember going through that when we first realized that Ray's children were missing. I remember thinking that I could never live through this. I questioned God, and wondered how He could allow something so awful to happen to us. I was, in a way, like Job's three friends. I questioned myself and wondered what I must have done wrong to deserve such a thing to have happened. Like Job, I could have easily said, My ears have heard of You God..but God wanted me to see Him.

It is so important for each of us to have a personal revelation of God..and of His love for us. It simply isn't enough to have heard of God only..to sit in church week after week, with no real personal revelation of Him in our lives. Without that personal revelation, that knowing in our hearts, that God sees what we face, He cares for us, He knows that it will be difficult, but somehow He is working in the situation to bring something good forth, we can easily live a life of defeat. And a life of defeat and depression is not what Christ died to give us. He came that we might have LIFE, and have it in abundance. The devil can easily steal our joy, when we don't have a deep and very personal revelation of the love of our Savior.

From the moment that Job had that revelation, things began to change for Him, and He could say with confidence, Lord, my ears had heard of You..but now my eyes have seen You. He still may not have had a clear answer from God about all the why's and what's of his situation, but He could look back and see that God had been with him throughout his entire ordeal. What a comfort.

I don't know how to instruct each of you on having this very personal relationship with God. I only know that it's possible. I only know that looking back at my life, and the loss of our children, I can say along with Job, that my eyes have seen Him. I have seen Him in our situation, the God of all comfort, strengthening us, deepening our faith, holding us up when we felt as though we couldn't take another step, giving us a determination to keep going, loving us into wholeness once again. I can see Him in the fact that there is no longer any bitterness in my heart, and I know that only God could have done that. I was so filled with anger at one time. God has helped me to pray for Ray's sons' mother, and He has given me a love for her that I could not have on my own. My eyes have seen Him.

I don't know what you may be going through today. Many of you have gone through things that are much harder than what I have faced. I can only encourage you that you have a sovereign God who loves you. I can only exhort you to "dig deep" into the things of God. Admit to Him when you can't even muster up enough faith to trust..I believe that often true faith begins with such humility. Realize that we are locked into time, and God isn't. There may be things in this life that go unanswered...but we can trust God when we know Him..when we have that revelation of His love for us..and realize that He sees the bigger picture that we can't always see.

God used our situation with Ray's sons, to change our hearts, and give us a burden for the young men at the Boys Ranch. For five years, we were allowed the privilege of going in on Sunday mornings, and speaking to them about the love of God. We will never know the work that God did in their hearts, but we trust and believe that hearts were changed. Our eyes have seen Him.

Beloved, when you are in a difficult situation..or when you are simply reading your Bible, or hearing God's word being preached, and you suddenly realize.."I see it, Lord"..that is when your personal revelation of God has come..and you will begin to see that God has been with you all along.

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