SEEING IS BELIEVING -- Devotional for March 22, from "Good Seeds"

I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees Thee; therefore I retract in dust and ashes. (Job 42: 5,6)

The Bible says no man can see God and live. But this verse seems to say no man can live who has NOT seen God! The conundrum is solved in Jesus Christ, who said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father, for I and the Father are one” (John 10:30) After His death on the cross Jesus rose from the grave, and was seen by many, including His disciples – but one of their number, Thomas, was not among them, at first. Yes, good old “doubting Thomas,” who earned that moniker from his disbelief concerning the resurrection of Jesus. The disciples had been meeting behind closed doors, at first to lick wounds inflicted by their dashed hopes, but later to wonder together at just what it could mean that Jesus indeed had been seen alive – this One whose horrible death they had so recently witnessed. On one of those occasions Jesus appeared to them, in the flesh. His words, as always, were few and powerful, words beginning with the simple greeting: “Peace be unto you!” but then ascending into divine breathing – “Receive ye the Holy Spirit.” But Thomas wasn’t’ there. It seems he skipped church that day! (There’s got to be a lesson somewhere in this for us!) Now, the one time when a man should just sit quietly and listen, Thomas spoke up, revealing not only his folly but his lack of faith: “Unless I see His hands and feet, and feel the imprint of the crucifixion nails, and put my hand into His side where He took the sword, I will not believe.” And for eight days straight Thomas repeated his terrible tirade of unbelief to anyone who would listen. But then, back “in church,” Thomas in attendance this time, the Master appeared once again: “Peace be to you.” But then He turned to Thomas, looked him square in the face, and with a firm, sad voice, said, “Okay, Thomas, reach here your finger (showing him the nail-prints in His hands) and place here your hand (exposing to him the scar in His side), and be no longer unbelieving, but believing.” In great shame, but with renewed faith, he fell on his face before the Savior, crying out, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:21-28). After Job’s horrendous test of faith, he concluded, “You are no longer just the One I learned about in Sunday School – Someone to admire from afar – for now I see You, with the eyes of my heart!” Having said that, he returned to the ash heap, this time in contrite repentance. Wasn’t this also Isaiah’s reaction after His vision of the Holy God, “Woe is me, for I am undone, for my eyes have seen the Lord” (Is. 6:5)? Could it be that it is only when we see the Lord with the eyes of faith that we will acknowledge our dependence upon our own clever wisdom to be what it actually is: unbelief! Surely no man can truly live until he has “seen” the Lord like this!