10 May | EVERYONE
«I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.» Job 42:5, 6
When the classical Greeks did scientific research, they based it more on deduction and rational speculation than on direct observation of their objects of study. As an example (a bit cartoonish, but useful by way of illustration), if they wanted to know a flower, they went to the library and studied its essence, its functions, its composition, and the variety of its nature. They focused knowledge on (speculative) theory. This is an inheritance we receive from Hellenistic culture. Instead, when the Bible uses the verb ‘to know,’ it associates it with experience. To get to know a flower, from the biblical approach, you must go to the field and observe it in its natural environment, smell it, and see the variety of its shapes and colors.
Job knew God before he was tested. He was a perfect man in the eyes of the Most High, but as he descended into the depths of pain and suffering, as he saw himself criticized and condemned by his best friends, as he saw the commiseration reflected in the eyes and words of his own wife, he came to acquire a deeper concept of his Creator, and in his sorrow he clung to the invisible hand of the Lord even to say, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth” (Job 19:25).
One day the storm passed, because in this life everything passes. The good times go away, but so do the bad ones. The mist evaporates, the darkness flees in terror with the arrival of the sun. And when the sun shone again on the patriarch’s experience, he declared that it was really now that he began to know God: “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You” which led him to repentance as a change of view about his Creator and Savior.
Job had heard of God before he was tested, but only “by the hearing of the ear.” Each new revelation from God shines in a way that makes previous knowledge seem pale. What Job had just experienced was so real that it made all his previous experiences seem unreal.
Take Action
You do not need to go through the valley of pain to get to have Job’s experience. Make each day a special day of communion with Jesus to know Him as He is. The most intimate and profound joy will fill your heart as a result.