“The Lord Gave, and the Lord Hath Taken Away”

(You can view a copy of this post in the column to the right.)

Certainly the most tragic figure in the Bible—if not Jesus Himself—is the Old Testament patriarch Job. This godly man, for reasons he never learned on this earth, was struck by all of man’s greatest fears—financial ruin, family loss, and prolonged sickness. He was the “greatest (richest) of all the men of the east” (Job 1:3); yet he lost it all, stolen or destroyed (1:14-17). He had 10 children—certainly the delight of any man’s soul, but even more so in ancient times when large families were considered a supreme blessing from God; but they were all killed, at the same time, by a “great wind from the wilderness” (1:19). Then, he was struck with “sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown” (2:7), a condition that corroded his bones (30:17) and so drastically changed his appearance that his best friends hardly recognized him (2:12). Apparently his fellows citizens were so repulsed they isolated him in the city dump (2:8). And the condition lasted for months (7:3). Even his wife turned against him. No doubt grieved herself, she said to Job, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” (2:9). And then these “friends” of his come to him and try to convince him that all this has happened to him because he must be the worst sinner who ever lived. Not a pleasant period in Job’s life, to say the least.

What would you have done in such a circumstance? You lose every bit of your material wealth, all of your children are killed at one time, you become ghastly ill for several months, your nearest and dearest and best friends turn against you: could you keep your faith in God through all that? Job’s response? ”What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” (2:10). And, “naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (1:21). There are few, if any, examples of faith greater than that which this man showed. And he apparently lived hundreds of years before one word of the Bible was penned. How could he maintain his righteous character under such a brutal assault?

Job apparently understood something that the vast majority of humankind has never learned, and certainly is lacking in the understanding of most some 5,000 later, viz., this world is not our home. We are mere pilgrims here, passing through, and we won’t be here for very long. I am convinced this is one reason why Jesus, while on earth, did not concern Himself in the least with political affairs. I’ve heard people say, “Well, if Jesus were here today, He would be marching for civil rights and supporting Obamacare, yada yada yada…” No, He wouldn’t. There were plenty of injustices—including slavery—that Jesus could have “marched against” in His own day, but He came for a much greater purpose: “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Jesus had been in heaven—He’s God, of course; that’s where He had come from (John 6:38). He knew the beauties and wonders of an existence with God, and He knew that “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Jesus, being man’s creator, was aware that “the days of our years are threescore and ten (70),” and perhaps 80, “for it is soon cut off, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10). And “the cares of this world and pleasure of this life” (Luke 8:14) are brief, fleeting, and ultimately vain.

Jesus wasn’t interested in making Republicans or Democrats out of people, a nomenclature that will not last, for long, for any of us. Jesus was interested in leading us into a condition that will last forever—a home in heaven. Is last year’s election more important than that? Will Obamacare be vital—for you—100 years from now? Indeed, quickly, tell me who was elected President in 1908, 100 years ago?.....I’m waiting….Now, do you think that anyone who voted in the 1908 election cares, right now, who won the election in 2008? And, yes, I even have my own “current events” blog, on which I post my political rants. But will any of us care who wins the presidency in 2108?

But will we care where our eternal soul resides?

Job did ask, implicitly, in his subsequent conversations with his friends, “Why? Why did this happen to me? I’ve been righteous, I didn’t deserve this. I’d sure like to talk to God and tell Him a few things!” But that great man never did, while alive on earth, learn the answer to his question “why?” What he learned was the answer to a far greater question: “Who.” For if we know the “Who,” then the “why” really doesn’t matter, does it.

“I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die” (John 11:25-26).

“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2-3).

“The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”