Oct 14

My Eyes Have Seen You

“My ears had heard you, but now my eyes have seen you.”

 Job 42:5

Job knew about God. He had been raised on the traditions of his fathers and he believed in God. He worshiped God and offered sacrifices to him  faithfully. He served God as none other in his day. Even God described him to the devil as righteous, "Have you considered my servant Job,” he said to him. Though Job knew God and served Him, he had not experienced God until he was called to suffer for Him. This is true for all of God’s children. There is a special sweetness that comes from learning through pain and loss. There is a special closeness that is gained when we throw ourselves into the arms of our Father when we feel lost and alone. There is nothing quite like feeling God’s presence with you when all hope is gone. It is then that we can say with Job, “Our ears had heard you, but now we have seen you with our very own eyes.” When we submit to God like Job, when we come to the end of ourselves and see that it is not really about us at all, then we will see our Father. Life is all about God and how we can bring Him glory. When we come to that understanding, we will see God working in our lives. We will see Him bringing joy from the pain. We will see God’s promises come true. We will see our Father. The reality is that He was always there, reaching out to us, but our focus was on us, not Him. We missed His presence because we were so busy looking at our wounds, our pain. Job learned through his pain that ultimately we are called to bring God glory through all of life’s experiences, whether good or bad, and when he came to that realization, he saw God. May we learn this lesson quickly that we might live in God’s presence forever.

Father, thank you for the suffering you place in our lives. Thank you  for drawing us to you through the pain. Help us to feel your presence with us in all of life's experiences. Help us to not only hear your voice, but to see you working in our lives. Father, how often we think about life as being all about us, but it is not. Help us to see that all of life’s experiences, whether good or bad, have one purpose and that is to bring you glory and honor. Oh, that we would learn that lesson quickly! Thank you for always being there, waiting for us to see you. You are a patient father, and for that we are eternally grateful. Amen