In case you think you might be having a bad day, it's nothing compared to this. First, there was word about the loss of all the livestock and the hired hands. As if that wasn't bad enough, word came that his seven sons and three daughters had perished in a tragic storm. It just doesn't get any worse than this. And yet his response was anything but what we might expect:
"Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. He said, 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD'" (Job 1:20-21)
Did you catch that? In response to this horrible, tragic news, Job WORSHIPPED. Isn't worship something we do when we are extremely blessed and grateful? Something we do when things go well in our lives? According to the example of Job, apparently it is something we also do in the face of our greatest tragedies and losses.
Job's words reveal an amazing perspective. He recognized that he came naked from his mother's womb - without clothing or possessions. All that he had been given in life was gain, but when it was taken away he was no less than he had been at his birth. The Lord Yahweh had given all and now had chosen to take away. He was no less to be praised in adversity than He was in prosperity.
Job is perhaps the most outstanding example of all time of someone who held all things loosely. That which he lost was not so much a personal loss as it was a loss of that which God had entrusted to him. If we acknowledge that God truly owns that which is in our hands, it is easier to accept when He chooses to recall it.
We know the background of the story of Job as we read the previous verses in chapter one. It was not God who chose to inflict pain and loss on Job, but rather the enemy of God and His people as God permitted (which in itself may be a difficult concept for us to grasp and accept). God is often blamed for the adversity that the devil has been permitted to mete out.
I would dare not be so presumptuous as to predict how I would respond to Job's adversity should it come my way. The pain of miniscule losses may be a fair gauge and, if so, I have a long way to go to ever be a "Job". Therefore, there is much training to be done in learning to hold all things loosely.
All of life is stewardship for the child of God. The sooner we learn that all that we have is on loan, the easier it is to adjust to the seasons times in life of gain and loss. Jesus' parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) reminds us that servants are entrusted with that which is designed to be used for gain for the king and the kingdom. All that we have and all that we are is designed for this great purpose, rather than for our own indulgence and pleasure.
I pray that none of us faces the adversity of Job but, in prosperity and adversity, may our response be as his was: "The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD".
Steve
"Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. He said, 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD'" (Job 1:20-21)
Did you catch that? In response to this horrible, tragic news, Job WORSHIPPED. Isn't worship something we do when we are extremely blessed and grateful? Something we do when things go well in our lives? According to the example of Job, apparently it is something we also do in the face of our greatest tragedies and losses.
Job's words reveal an amazing perspective. He recognized that he came naked from his mother's womb - without clothing or possessions. All that he had been given in life was gain, but when it was taken away he was no less than he had been at his birth. The Lord Yahweh had given all and now had chosen to take away. He was no less to be praised in adversity than He was in prosperity.
Job is perhaps the most outstanding example of all time of someone who held all things loosely. That which he lost was not so much a personal loss as it was a loss of that which God had entrusted to him. If we acknowledge that God truly owns that which is in our hands, it is easier to accept when He chooses to recall it.
We know the background of the story of Job as we read the previous verses in chapter one. It was not God who chose to inflict pain and loss on Job, but rather the enemy of God and His people as God permitted (which in itself may be a difficult concept for us to grasp and accept). God is often blamed for the adversity that the devil has been permitted to mete out.
I would dare not be so presumptuous as to predict how I would respond to Job's adversity should it come my way. The pain of miniscule losses may be a fair gauge and, if so, I have a long way to go to ever be a "Job". Therefore, there is much training to be done in learning to hold all things loosely.
All of life is stewardship for the child of God. The sooner we learn that all that we have is on loan, the easier it is to adjust to the seasons times in life of gain and loss. Jesus' parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) reminds us that servants are entrusted with that which is designed to be used for gain for the king and the kingdom. All that we have and all that we are is designed for this great purpose, rather than for our own indulgence and pleasure.
I pray that none of us faces the adversity of Job but, in prosperity and adversity, may our response be as his was: "The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD".
Steve
posted by steve @ 8:46 AM
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