Job gave us all a choice

Two different people.

Connected through the bond of marriage.

They lived a happy and wealthy life and were in need of nothing.

Then suddenly… they had everything stripped away.

NOTHING was their own any longer. 

Their family, their property, their animals- gone.  Their life crumbled before them. 

They had a choice. They got to decide how they were going to react to the stripping away of their lives and the detachment from the things of the world.

They chose two completely different routes.

The husband? He responded with the powerful words of, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21)

The wife? She responded with just as much of a powerful response. Her painful words rang, “Curse God and die.” (Job 2:9)

Job and his wife.

God was in control. He had complete control and power. God could have prevented Job from losing everything.  But He didn’t.  Lord knows the reason.

Doesn’t this sound similar to everyday modern life?

The Lord tests His people. He desires for His children to know we are not of this earthly world.  He gives and He takes away.  He may strip everything away like He did to Job.  Life may feel insecure.  Life may be pain. Often times life IS pain. Life is uncomfortable.  Life is having no idea what is going to happen next.  There are times during life when we wonder if everything will truly be ok.  We may lose friends, we may lose a job, we may lose money, we may lose a house.  We may need to learn the lesson that nothing is truly ours.

We may have a story stupidly similar to Job’s story.

And if this is your story; you now have a choice.  You are blessed enough to have the free will to decide how you will react to life’s struggles and trials and the stripping of the things of the world. The choice is black and white. Yet still, it is a hard decision to make.

You can respond to life’s struggles with Job’s words, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21)

Or you can repeat Job’s wife’s words, “Curse God and die.” (Job 2:9)

The choice is yours. You are blessed enough to decide.

After going through a stripping of everything I had known to be stable; I was given this choice.  I had to decide how I was going to react to the stability that I once knew being shattered.  I had to choose what I was going do to after I was ripped up and away from what I knew and was thrown into something new.  I had to choose what my words would be after I felt let down time after time by the God who is LOVE.  In my humanness, I have no idea which words I would have chosen.  I pray that only words that glorify the Lord would have come out of my mouth, but I don’t know that for a fact.

However, what I do know to be true is that through the power of God I was given the ability to praise God, in the good times and even more so in the bad times.  Though this year has not been what I would have guessed it would be nor what I would have chosen it to be- praise God.  And praise God that He has given me the ability to praise Him through this year. And praise God He has given me the awesome ability to look at this past year and to look at the uncertainty of this current time and say, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!” (Job 1:21)

Job was very faithful to Lord and to the Lord’s plan.  Job boldly accepted the pain and hardships in his life.  At the end of the book of Job, Job says to the Lord, “I know that You can do all things and that no purpose of Yours can be hindered.  I have dealt with great things that I do not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know.” (Job 42:3-4)

Some words, huh?  The man has NOTHING and he spoke not with hate or anger towards the Lord.  He called his sufferings AWESOME! Are you even kidding me? The man is so beyond completely faithful. The Lord acknowledges Job’s faithfulness and rewarded Job.  God rewarded Job by returning to Job everything he had owned before- in twofold! 

Job. Was. Blessed.

BUT

He was blessed BECAUSE he was faithful.

Job’s story is pretty amazing. I wish I could be as faithful as this man!

May the Lord bless each and every one of us with a story like Job’s!

May we all walk through life’s trials and struggles with the grace of the Lord.

May we all have the courage to confidently say, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21)

May the Lord bless us all in the divine manner in which He desires.

Job 2:21

The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!

Job 2:9

Then his wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your innocence? Curse God and die.”

Blessed be the name of the Lord!