Seeing It For Myself

And they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.” John 4:42 (New American Standard Bible)

The testimony of the Samaritan woman drew people to Jesus but their relationship with Him was birthed when they saw and heard Him for themselves. No amount of rubbing shoulders with others will put us into connection with God. Until our faith is born out of our own experiences, we will be limited in our view of Him, our love for Him, and our commitment to Him. We may catch glimpses of God through the life and words of others but a full view comes through our own one on one meetings with Him.

I well remember the decades I spent learning truths about God at the feet of others. I was enraptured with their stories, hung on their every word, and walked away excited about their walk with God. While their journeys appealed to me they didn’t do a lot to change me. I was trying to experience God through the avenue of another person’s relationship with Him. That, my friend, is a second-hand faith and results in stagnation and staleness. God’s desire has always been that each one of us see, hear, and relate to Him on an individual, authentic, personal level.

I praise God for the day I looked at an individual whose walk with God exploded with everything I lacked and a hunger was awakened in me. My prayer became, “God, I want what SHE has!” I wanted to live my life with the realization that God loved me. I wanted His Word to come alive to me and prayer to be a two-way conversation. I wanted to live each day out of an intimate relationship with Him. And I thought that would come as I sat at her feet and listened to her tell me of her encounters with God. But God knew better.

He knew I would only experience Him for myself as I learned to cry on His shoulders, take my questions to Him, learn to hear His voice, and sit at His feet. In other words, He was wooing me into a solitary walk with Himself. He has brought me to the place where I am no longer desiring what other people have, I am experiencing it!

It is my heart’s desire that each person reading this devotional is either experiencing God for themselves or being wooed by Him in that direction. He is still in the business of awakening a hunger and thirst for Himself and satisfying both.

Father, it has never been Your intention that I merely hear about You. What I am finally experiencing for myself is beyond words. Draw me still closer. Amen.