Title: Now I See You With My Eyes
Contents
January 15th Sunday Day Worship <Now I see you with my eyes> (Job 42:1-6)
Last Friday was Friday the 13th. And a cruise ship passing through Italy was caught on a reef and ran aground, but there was news that passengers, including Korean passengers, were rescued safely. And a long time ago, a ship carrying 300 people got stuck on a reef and was stranded. A man who had drifted on an uninhabited island did not pass the boat and when the weather got cold, he gathered tree branches to make a shelter and made a embers, but the wind blew and the embers burned down the entire house. Then, complaints poured out, and they poured out their grudges against God. Then I fell asleep because I was exhausted, and when someone woke me up, I found a boat moored and the captain woke me up. When I asked him how he knew, there was a fire and smoke, so he said that he came to see who was there. Only then did he realize that it was the best way for him to live.
Job was a representative person who lost everything in an instant. All of his wealth and family died or left, and even three friends rebuked him. But Job had no repentance and was living in hell. Then, Job makes the same confession as today's words. When a person has material things, I want to brag about it and show it off. However, if you are only attached to such things, you will be called a sleazy person. In that respect, I think Job is a very good person. It is said that when all things fly away, it is God who gives and God who takes away. It's a great word, but I didn't really know the will of God in it, and I just went on to say that it could be this or that. In any case, you will have to let go of the materialistic mind.
And his seven sons and three daughters died. However, I looked closely from chapters 1 to 42 of the book of Job, and Job did not say a word about his children. Was it because there was no love? Perhaps when you answer the question of why you live on this earth, many people will answer that it is for your children. However, looking at Job, he does not show any mourning even though his family is broken and his children have died. We too must realize. Neither living because of children nor dying because of children is not an aspect of faith. Children are clearly a gift from God, but that is why they are God's and not mine. Parental love is not all that effective. If you leave, that's it. These days, there are sayings like kangaroos. But that's not the case. When you become an adult, you need to be independent. It's just a feeling while growing up.
And Job's wife left the house. But Job does not go looking for his wife. According to the Bible, Jacob had 4 wives and 12 sons. In this age, it was natural to have many wives according to one's abilities, but how much love must have been that Job, who was so wealthy, had one wife. But it doesn't go looking for it. Jacob asked Rachel, whom he loved so much, to give birth to a child, but God did not give it to him. And Jacob later asks that he be buried next to Leah. Love is also a moment. Our lives are not lived by it.
Today, seeing Job's repentance, he says he has only come to know God a little, but I have a question. You say you've seen it with your own eyes, but is that really what you've seen? But Job said he saw the Lord with his eyes. How would you like to see He asks Jesus to show him God if people are the Son of God. Then Jesus said, “Those who have seen him have already seen the Father, so why ask him to show him?” If you believe in Jesus Christ and hear the voice of God, you have seen God. Perhaps what we want to hear from God is that we love you, or do we want to hear from him not to worry. Job, who should have listened to it, only heard the words of rebuke. But in it, Job repents. Hear that voice and repent. And all problems are solved. Even if it is not the voice I want to hear, if I listen to that voice, it will be resolved. After meeting God, everything was restored.
What do you think is most valuable? What is important is an encounter with God. Only with this can there be a new life. When we have this kind of meeting, everything becomes valuable and meaningful. If you can meet God, if you can feel the touch of that meeting, it doesn't matter.
In the basement, there is a painting drawn by Butler Jong-su Park, in which there is a rose with all thorns exposed. Even when looking at a picture, each person who sees it has a different opinion. The same goes for words. Even if you hear it, you can't help it if you don't know, and it was the same in the time of Jesus. After Jesus died, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus were with him, but the disciples did not recognize him. And later, when I was eating, I realized that Jesus was not there at that moment. Meeting God is the only thing we will strive for this year. When I hear his voice and kneel before him, God's hand will touch me. God is here. If you can't expect God's hand even though you've come before God, can you meet God? You should expect to meet God with the faith of Job.