"I had heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance."(Job 42:5-6)
We still have a lot to learn. No one has arrived. No one gets to a place where they are able to say, "I know it all, it's time for me to stop learning."
At some point in our lives we all reach that place in our walk with God where we get complacent. We came to know Christ and couldn't get enough! We were in church every time the doors were open. We even went to happy timer (senior citizens) events if it meant just being at church! Something happens over time though. We lose that zeal, that tenacity with which we first pursued God. We think we know everything there is to know about him, the gospel, & our mission for him in this world.
We see this happen with Job. Job is described by God, not himself, as being the most righteous man on the earth. He was blameless and feared the Lord and turned from evil. In Job's dialog with his friends about how to make sense of his suffering, he speaks assuredly about who God is. I do think it's safe to say that Job knew God. But, Job came face to face with God. God personally educates Job on the ways of the universe and God's sovereign activity over all things. Job's response? "I had heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance."(Job 42:5-6)
Job describes his previous dealings and knowledge about God as "hearing about him." And says that his new understanding is better said as being "seen you with my own eyes." There is a big difference between the two.
I've heard about Pearl Harbor but I wasn't there on December 7, 1941 when it went down. I didn't see it take place with my own eyes. I've heard about Moses parting the Red Sea but I wasn't there when it happened. I've heard about the grand canyon and this past summer I did see it with my own eyes. WOW! It didn't look real. It felt like I was standing in a 360 degree landscape painting. It was seriously unimaginable. Like nothing I'd ever seen before.
When it comes to church, especially church in the south, we know it all. We know about God, Jesus, church attendance, mission trips, tithing, & Sunday School. But I fear that in our vast knowledge about church we have just heard of God. We have yet to really see him face to face. I've heard of Micheal Jordan, seem him play on TV but never met him face to face. I've heard of Billy Graham. Even heard his sermons but I've never had a conversation with him one on one. The two are vastly different.
I do fear that one day a lot of us will stand before God with a "hearing about him" knowledge that will do little more than send us to an eternity without him. To know Christ and to follow him means to have a face to face kind of relationship with him. It's a relationship that is growing. It's a relationship that is in flux, always developing. It's a relationship that is always deepening. It's a relationship that is real, close, & engaging. Where we know more about him everyday and he knows more about us. Where we become less like us and more like him. Where our desires fade into his desires. Where our passions morph into his passions. This is what Job experienced in a very real way. Can we say the same about our relationship with God?
How would we characterize our relationship with God? Have we heard of him or have we seen him? Our response might just reveal where we are with him.
No comments:
Post a Comment