Job had lived a great life until we meet him in Job chapter one. He was a godly man and he was well regarded and respected by others. He was sought after for his wisdom and he helped others. It looks like Job had experienced all of God.
However after going through his trial that is recorded in the next 40 chapters he said something very significant. He said that prior to his trials he had only heard of God but after going through his trials he has seen God. What a revelation.
What was it that made this difference in his knowledge of God? Before his trial Job had everything under his control. He was prosperous. He had enough knowledge about God to live a righteous life. He was never in a position where he was helpless and had to reply on God completely for his survival.
This has been true in my life too. I had experienced God's working in multiple ways. However they were just miracles naturally happening in my life. I was just a passive recipient of His miracles. Then suddenly God started taking me through a different experience. He wanted me to actively make decisions for Him. He wanted me to actively choose to obey Him in situations where I would have previously handled using my own wisdom (of course with a prayer asking God to help me!). However God brough me to a point just like Job where I was not in control of my life's the situations. I had to rely on God to control the situations. This experience made me know God in ways I have not known before. Now I could understand what Job meant when he said "My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.", in Job 42:5.
How about you? What is your relationship with God? Do you use God as your personal assistant while you live life your way? Your ways may be godly but still what about your attitude towards God?
One way to determine where you stand is to scrutinize your prayers. What do you pray to Him? Do you ask Him to do this and that in your life and then go out and live your godly life expecting God to answer you? Are your prayers full of your ideas and plans and demanding God to bless your ideas and plans? If that is the case then definitely you have not seen God nor experienced His power personally in a life transforming way. The truth is that many Christians are satisfied with this type of a life.
However Jesus' invitation was different. He wants you to take His yoke and learn of Him. That means surrendering your all to Him. That means He will tell you what do do and you just follow His orders. Your prayer time will no longer be filled with a list of things you want God to do on your behalf in your life or requests for God to help you achieve your goals and dreams. Your prayer time will be a time where you surrender your willful ways and humble yourself to do what He wants you to do. Often this is not something you would naturally want to do but when you obey Him in this way you will start to experience Him in a whole new way. You will start to live your life in a whole new way.
Finally with Job you too would be able to say that you had once heard of him but now you have personally seen him and experienced Him intimately in your life.
