Seeing is Believing

“I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:5-6 AV)

It is one thing to hear the word of God.  Quite another to finally understand it.  This is what Job is meaning here.  When he speaks of his eye seeing God, he did not mean the LORD visibly revealed himself to him.  What Job means here is the LORD gave him full understanding of all that he heard.  This required a blunt conversation with the God whom he was doubting.  Job repents of all the emotions and rash words he spoke while trying to make sense of the situation.  God calls him on the carpet and basically tells Job He is not required to justify what He causes or allows.  This wake-up call is exactly what Job needed.  After losing his family, health, and wealth, one would think the LORD would show a bit more empathy and pity.  This is not what Job needed.  To get Job out of his pit, the LORD had to remind him of who He is, what He can do, and that He has not forgotten nor abandoned him.

This is the difference between growing in knowledge and growing in maturity.  Those that grow in knowledge may be able to rehearse verses or pass an exam.  This does not mean they are maturing.  Those who mature in the LORD are those who will yield to the hard things of God.  Those who repent, turn, and change are those who do not run from the hand of God.  Job could have removed himself.  His wife told him how to do it.  Curse God and die, she said.  Job could have ended his suffering by rejecting the hand of God.  But he didn’t.  He may have mused more than wisdom would dictate.  But who wouldn’t?  He had a lot of emotion to deal with.  He was in a fix.  In his musing, he questions God’s purpose and wisdom.  He does not condemn it.  But he does question it.  Job heard the word of God in chapters thirty-eight through forty-two.  It wasn’t until the LORD demanded of Job and answer and Job realized there was none that he finally saw with his mind’s eye that God is sovereign and He doesn’t need to explain Himself to Job.

We may not enjoy all the LORD brings into our lives, but that doesn’t mean they have no purpose or end in mind.  Job was irreversibly changed and became what the LORD wanted of him because he was willing to yield to the LORD’s hand even though he doubted it and questioned it.  Unless we are willing to endure the hardness that comes with change, we will never be what the LORD wants us to be and ultimately, we will not find the happiness which the LORD has for us.  If we question the LORD’s hand and seek ways to circumvent it, we will only grow more confused and miserable.  Job was able to keep himself quiet and take the rebuke of God’s word even in the midst of horrendous circumstances.  Which, by the way, is the measure of a person.  The depths of adversity which we are able to endure while the LORD seeks change is the measure of our character.  We want to hear.  We just don’t want to see.  That has to change.