Have you ever heard of God with your ears? You know what I mean! Have you heard someone say something like, “I remember when I was sick and the doctors didn’t know what to do, I was prayed for and God healed me?” Maybe it went like this, “We were in a great financial need and after we prayed, God sent provision from nowhere.” Here is another one you might have heard, “I was bound by the chains of sin, my life was hopeless, but God delivered me and set me free.” Have you ever heard of God with you ears?
The other day I was reminded of a man who had heard of God with his ears. He said he heard God was working in another place. Yet when this man arrived at that place he didn’t see God. This to him was more important than hearing of God. He actually was on a search for God. His own description of his situation goes like this, “I go east, but he is not there. I go west, but I cannot find him. I do not see him in the north, for he is hidden. I turn to the south, but I cannot find him.” Job 23:8-9 NLT. He had heard of God with his own ears and now He was looking for God!
Let me share something that God brought, very forcefully, to my attention just the other day. I have experienced times when I have read the Bible and have gotten little out of it. I know that sounds bad and maybe I was “bad” and that is why I didn’t get anything from it. Actually I think the problem was more my “retainer” wasn’t “retaining!” There have been other times when I have opened my Bible and a passage has jumped out at me as if it were in flashing lights. This is what happened the other day.
We were sitting in the ICU waiting area of a hospital and had been there for a couple of days. I had spent time praying and crying until I felt I couldn’t pray or cry anymore, at least not for a while. It was late at night and some folks were curled up in chairs nodding off. Others were just staring off into space, keeping their thoughts and prayers to themselves. Still others were talking in hushed tones to each other. I picked up my Bible and opened it. I love to read the Psalms, especially at times like this, so that is where I turned. Not having a particular passage in mind nor marked I thought I would start reading at Psalms One. I read the passage but I guess my “retainer” wasn’t turned on because it didn’t do anything for me. I started into the Second Psalms and my eyes strayed from the reading. They actually jumped up to the Book of Job, which was on the same page.
Now I am going to admit to you something I don’t want you to tell anyone else. I don’t really like to read the Book of Job. Quiet! Someone might hear your gasp! I know it has a lot of good information but I don’t like to read it, especially if I am not happy already. The ending is great but the rest of the story is pretty rough. So my intentions were not to read the Book of Job but suddenly there was a passage in “flashing lights” demanding my attention. What I read was something I really needed to read at that moment and it has been like a slow release fertilizer to my soul for the past several days. Job is at the end of his story and he is repenting to God for his attitude. In his repentance he makes a statement that is amazing to me. He said he had heard of God with his ears, but now he saw God with his own eyes.
This is when God began to speak to my soul. We have all heard of God, as I mentioned earlier. The question is have we seen God with our own eyes? I remember stories that I had heard when I was a child of the power of God. My dad told me the story of his grandmother Winnie Doran. She had fallen and shattered her knee caps. The doctors told her she would never walk again without crutches. She came to a church service in Tulare, California and they prayed for her. Dad said he saw crutches fly one way and Grandma danced another way. She danced all over the church and never used a crutch again. I heard that story with my own ears!
I heard the story of my Grandma praying for a truck tire that had went flat and had been patched several times that day. The family was moving from one city to another and it had been a hard day. It was now night and everyone was tired. She didn’t want the family stranded along a deserted highway so she prayed for the tire! Dad said they drove to their new home with a loaded truck and then drove on that tire for several more months. I heard that story with my own ears!
I heard my Mother tell me of the doctor’s report. They said she had tuberculosis, for which there is no cure. The reports were shocking! The prognosis was hopeless! That is until God came on the scene and completely healed her. There was no sanitarium needed. There were no treatments needed. There are no residual effects today over fifty years later. She takes a TB test on a regular basis for her work and it comes back clear! I heard that with my own ears!
I could go on and I am sure you could as well. Stories of salvation, I know of one preacher who received the Holy Ghost in a hog pen. I know of another man who was a drug addict and God touched his heart and lead him to a church that showed him the truth of God‘s love and Word. I know of a couple that was headed for divorce court when God intervened and helped them salvage their marriage. We have heard lots of stories! The question is have we seen God with our own eyes.
God spoke to me and let me know that it is one thing to have heard the stories of God’s power, deliverance and grace. It is another thing to have seen with your own eyes God exhibits His power, His deliverance and His grace. It is great to hear how powerful God is, but to know how powerful God is because you have seen that power work in your life is something even greater. To hear that God can deliver from any situation is wonderful, but to have seen God deliver you from a hopeless situation is beyond compare. To hear of God’s amazing grace will bless your soul, but to see God’s Amazing Grace in action in your own life will humble you in ways that cannot be explained. Have you seen God for yourself?
What we must realize is to see God for yourself you will need to be in a situation where you need to see God. It isn’t going to be enough to have heard He is working in the east, or west. It will not be enough to have heard God has done it for someone else; you will have to see Him for yourself. You will have to have your own personal relationship with Him.
As a young child I saw God for myself! At the age of five I came down with the measles. Although placed in a dark room the measles got into my right eye and caused an ulcer. I can remember being taken to the doctor and the doctor telling me and my mother to come back the next day. Their plan was to take the eye and lay it on my cheek. They were going to have to scrape the ulcer off of the eyeball. I remember being terrified. It sounded so horrible. That night we went to a little country church in the middle of a field in Fontana, California. I can still see it in my minds eye. I remember telling Mom I needed our Pastor, Brother Phil Granus and my Dad to pray for me. I remember them laying their hands on my head and praying the prayer of faith over me. I also remember, very vividly, going to the doctor the next day and hearing him say we don’t know what has happened but the ulcer is gone and surgery isn’t necessary. I also remember telling him that I already knew I would need surgery because God had healed my eye when I was prayed for. I had seen God with my own eyes!
The disciples of Jesus had heard His teachings. They were sure they knew He was God. Yet it was in the middle of a storm that they saw Him with their own eyes. For it was from the midst of the storm that He came walking across the waves. It was from the midst of the storm when everything was out of control that they witnessed His deliverance and power for themselves. They saw Him with their own eyes.
Paul and Silas had heard about Him, many times. In fact, they had seen Him with their own eyes. It is in a Philippian Jailers house, after being delivered from prison, they told the Jailer of a God they had seen with their own eyes. They talked of His saving power. They talked of His love and mercy. They shared His wondrous grace for all mankind with this man, who a moment before was on the verge of taking his own life, thinking life was hopeless. They had seen Him with their own eyes. Now the Jailer and his household have seen Him with their own eyes as well!
The question was circulated, was Jesus a sinner. He had healed a blind man on the Sabbath day! The Pharisees came to the man and asked him if Jesus was a sinner? The man replied that he did not know if He was a sinner or not, what he did know was that he had been blind but now he could see! He then proceeded to give a Bible study to these Bible scholars about how God doesn’t answer the prayers of the ungodly. The Pharisees became angry at what they considered insolence and banned him from the synagogue. When Jesus heard this He found the man and asked Him the following question:
“Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
To which the man replied, “Who is he, sir, because I would like to.”
“You have seen him,” Jesus said, “and he is speaking to you!”
Now I want you to notice the answer and the actions of the man in response to this statement, “Yes, Lord,” the man said, “I believe!” And he worshiped Jesus.” John 9:35-38 NLT
He had heard about Him. He had heard good things and also bad things. He wasn’t sure what to believe except that he had been healed. Now, in spite of what he has been told by others, He has seen Him for himself and he believes! He has witnessed the power of God! He has witnessed the deliverance of God! He has witnessed the grace of God! He, who was blind, has seen God for himself and when he realized who he had seen he worshipped Him!
Jesus goes on to say He has come to give sight to the blind. He has also come to show those that think they see they are really blind. There are a lot of things that we could say here, but I wonder if one of the things that Jesus is saying is this, “There are going to be some times in your life when what you have heard with your ears will not be enough, you are going to need to see God for yourself. It is in these times that I will open your eyes and you will see and you will believe!”
God Bless!
