Hearing About God But Never Seeing Him

Job 42:5-6 “My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”

In the beginning of Job, God spoke with Satan and was telling him how there were no righteous persons on the earth quite like his servant Job. Job knew God, and obviously God knew Job. At the end of the book, God comes out of a whirlwind and addresses Job. Over and over again he asks Job questions regarding Job’s power over the creation. God asks about snow, hail, thunder, and lightning. He asks about the wild donkey, the horse, the ostrich, the constellations, and certain large land and water animals. All of these questions are used to humble Job and put him in his place.

Job knew God in the beginning of the book, but didn’t know him at the level of seeing him. It doesn’t appear to me that Job actually saw God, but that he now saw God through his creation. He saw God in the snow, the rain, and the lightning. He saw God in the ostrich, the donkey, and the horse. He saw God in the land and sea creatures. And he saw God in the sun, moon, and stars. He was seeing God how he was meant to be seen in his creation. “The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1).

Have you merely heard of God but never seen him? God’s creation is meant to be a pointer for us to see him as he desires to be seen. Those alive during the life span of Jesus truly saw God. We will not be able to see God at that level until Jesus comes back, or we stand before him in heaven. But we can see him at the deepest level in the here and now though his creation. All things created are meant to be pointers to seeing and savoring the God who desires us to repent in dust and ashes.