LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
When We See God
"My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you" (Job 42:5).
Do let us realize, dear friends, that there is a great difference between knowing God by hearing and knowing Him by seeing. Job confessed that his knowledge of God in the past had come by hearing; which is to say, that it had been indirect and informational in character and had therefore not been intimate, personal, and experiential enough. It had been more a mental than a spiritual knowledge.
Such a knowledge is entirely inadequate, since it puffs up a person instead of bringing him low. Knowing God only by hearing makes one into a somebody, but knowing Him by seeing reduces one to a nobody; to dust and ashes. And this was truly Job's experience. Through the Lord's painful dealing, he has at last seen God. Through the Lord's affliction he has come into a very close and personal encounter with Him.
It is good that in afflictions we meet God. It is He who solves our problems, yet not by explanation but by appearance. Our problems are solved when we see Him. For when we see God, we are not so much concerned with our problems as we are concerned with ourselves being the problem; so that we abhor our very selves and repent in dust and ashes.
In giving up ourselves we receive more of God, just as John the Baptist expressed it when he confided, I must decrease but He must increase. As we become nothing, God becomes everything. (Stephen Kaung).