EXPERIENCING GOD

 EXPERIENCING GOD 

   

I had heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. (Job 42:5) 

How much of your life has been spent hearing about God? How many hours of sermons have you sat through learning about the way God works and the way he has dealt with people? How many times have you sat around the dinner table discussing God with your friends? talking about his mercy, wrath, holiness, direction, and ultimate intentions? listening to others proclaim their understanding of his will and ways? How many days of your life have been spent in search of the truths about God? Now, how much of that time would you trade for a moment of seeing him with your own eyes? How much more could you learn if you could experience God firsthand? if you could stand in his presence and listen to him speak? I'm convinced that we've all spent too much time talking and hearing about God and far too little standing in silence before him. We're so busy debating his ways that we never take the time to experience them. We're so caught up in questions and answers about God's holiness and mercy that we've never allowed him to show us just how holy and merciful he really is. "Be silent, and know that I am God!" he tells us (Psalm 46:10). "Be silent before the Lord, all humanity," proclaims the prophet Zechariah (Zechariah 2:13). Standing in God's presence, Job replies in total humility, "I will put my hand over my mouth in silence. I have said too much already. I have nothing more to say" (Job 40:4-5). How many of us have said too much already? How many of us continue to talk long after we have nothing more to say? How much more could we gain if we simply learned to stand still and quiet in the presence of God? "I had heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes," says Job. "I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance" (Job 42:5-6). When we see God, it changes everything. It silences our heart and soul in a way that nothing else can. It makes every word we've ever spoken and everything we've ever heard about God seem foolish. It is the only way we will ever truly come to know him. 

Today's Reading 
Job 42:1-5