Trusting God Through Loss and Blessing
By Dean Collins
On any given day, someone will have a sudden tragedy. Some who are reading this today may be experiencing unexpected pain due to a significant loss. There are others of us, and maybe many readers, who will experience a day filled with more than enough food, time, pleasure, and friends. These good days, along with the tragic days, can come upon both the rich and the poor and to people who have a belief in God and to those who believe there is no God.
In the book of Job, we meet a man with more than enough of everything. He was thriving. He had land, cattle, and a family who enjoyed their father’s wealth. Job was also a man who revered God and pursued righteousness over evil. But this rather long book includes an unusual discussion of a heavenly council of some kind where God was approached by a character that in Hebrew is translated, “the satan,” and means, “the adversary.”
While it is uncomfortable to consider how this negotiation of sorts goes between God and the satan, God allows the satan to torment Job. By the end of chapter one, Job had lost all of his cattle, and his property was destroyed. He experienced robbery and fire and even lost his children. While this book of the Bible is considered poetic, it is hard to read about all the pain Job had to endure. In this book, we are forced to consider many of our questions about God just as Job did.
At the end of chapter one, we learn Job’s response to his trauma:
“Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.”
Considering all that Job lost, it is amazing to see his response. I hope I would have Job’s surrendered heart, but I am not sure that I would. What a beautiful picture of surrendering everything to the Lord. Job understood what we so often forget: everything is God’s, and as God, he gets to choose whatever he wants to do. There is a beautiful resolution to this story in chapter 42, but before we jump there, it is good for us to wrestle with our willingness to surrender all that we have to God, both on the good days and the barren days.
Father, teach us to number our days. Thank you for the great reminder that everything we have comes from above. Today, we open our hands to you in worship. We pray for those who are experiencing hardship. Reveal yourself to those in need today. Show us who and how we might be able to help. Father, some who read this have experienced great blessings of wealth, health, and comfort. If that is our situation, we pray that you would nudge us to surrender our blessings back to you in worship. Direct our thoughts and actions, that all that we have and all that we are be used for your glory. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
Job 1:20-22 ESV
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