Job 1-3

welcome back!

so it's been the better part of a year since i've written here. time to breath some new life into this old blog (or at least blow the dust off before my allergies go crazy). i just started a new Bible reading plan, and after talking with a dear brother i'm going to be blogging on my daily readings, whatever God particularly points out that day in His Word.

so today was Job 1-3. i won't go through all the details, but the man job goes from living the high-life to being destitute in a matter of a single day. kids, livestock, everything of his is destroyed in a moment. after four messengers finish telling him all the bad news, the Bible says "then job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and..."

can you guess what comes next? while in our culture, we generally don't destroy clothing nor get a new hairdo out of grief, these acts are normal for the ancients to express agonizing sorrow. i think we can at least relate to falling on the ground, that our emotions have taken all our energy and we feel like there's nothing left to hold us up. so then what does job do? does he wail in despair? does he wallow in pity? does he seek vengeance and retribution? does he go find his insurance agent?

 "... 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.'"

 he praises God! not what you would have expected, right? and later on, when he gets sick on top of all this and his nagging wife questions him, job says, "shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?"

this is amazing! but why? it is amazingly foolish? if not, why not? why doesn't he press God for his rights? why does he still trust the God who allowed such evil to befall him, indeed, Whom he says gave it to him?

in truth, God owes us nothing, and everything we have is a gift. it is not unjust of God to take something that we hold dear; rather, it amazing that we ever held it at all. not only so, but all who receive Him as He has revealed Himself in Jesus, have the right to be called adopted sons of God, for whom God works all things, even suffering, for good.  the God who can take the cruelest execution ever devised by man and have us sing of the wonderful cross, Who has the anniversary of His death called good friday: He is still at work in this world, and still cares for those He has made His own.

for those of you who know and feel this more acutely right now, let me encourage you that Jesus is still with you and means your good, even if that's hard to see right now. may you be able to say with job, in all things, "blessed be the name of the Lord." i leave you with a great song from sovereign grace music, which paraphrases part of this passage. God be with you all.