An Encounter With God

I sat on my balcony watching the rain the other night. The clouds marched along to the north and west. From my vantage point it was dry and sunny but somewhere, someone was getting wet. I am in awe at the God Who controls the winds, the clouds and the rain. Like Job, I shut my mouth (Job 40:3-5), my complaints that God wasn't paying attention sounding ridiculous in the presence of the One who formed the world and sustains it to this day.

It's me who doesn't pay attention. The universe constantly proclaims the presence of a God who IS in control, Who is paying attention to every detail—even the petty ones of my life. Job's response to an encounter with God was to repent (42:6), just as Isaiah repented when he saw God in the vision recorded for us in Isaiah 6.

When we have a "close encounter" with God, there is no other response but repentance, worship and total abandonment to the will and purpose of the Almighty. After seeing God, Isaiah cried, "Here am I. Send me!" (Isaiah 6:8, NIV). And Job went to prayer to intercede with God on behalf of his so-called friends (Job 42:7-9). Repentance, worship, service and intercessory prayer—a good return from an encounter with God.