With My Eyes

"I admit I once lived by rumors of you; now I have it all first-hand - from my own eyes and ears." Job 42:5


You see things about him on TV.  You hear of him on the radio.  You read about him in magazines and on the internet.  But all you know are rumors of him.  You've never met him face to face.  You've never experienced life with him.  You've never had an eye witness account of his life or what your life would be like with him.

You may thing I'm talking about Hollywood's hottest star or the newest act on the music scene.  But I'm not.  I'm talking about the most Holy, almighty God. Creator of heaven & earth.  But all you know of Him is what you hear from others.  What you take away in the one hour a week you sit in church.  What you get out of the obligatory "bless this meal" prayer.  But you don't have first hand knowledge of Him.  You've heard stories of what He's done for others, but never had your own landmark experience.

Job was a godly man - the godliest man of his time.  And God allowed satan to test him.  To try him.  To strip everything and everyone he held dear away from him.  And Job passed the test with flying colors.  But here's what I find interesting in that whole story.  Job is referred to as the most influential man in the east in Job 1.  God said Job hated evil.  He was a godly man.  But, by Job's own admission, he only knew rumors of God before he faced his trials.

How many of us only know rumors of God? How many of us have settled for the bare minimum of knowing rumors without experiencing God first hand? Job, in all of his godliness, didn't have a face to face knowledge of God until he experienced God's presence in his heartache.  Until it was down to the nitty gritty of life, Job had only known God through other people's experiences.

But once Job knew God for himself, once Job experienced God for himself, his relationship and perspective greatly changed.  See, once you experience God for yourself, you're never the same.  And you don't even have to have a "Job" experience to get there.  God waits everyday in the everything to share himself with you.  You don't have to lose everything to find Him.  You don't have to experience loss to find Him.  You just have to look in the everyday.

It's not enough to be satisfied with rumors of who He is.  It's not enough to be satisfied with second-hand accounts of what He accomplishes.  Dig in!  Learn first-hand!  See with your own eyes, hear with your own ears the love He wishes to lavish upon you.