The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away...

I was driving to work this morning. I was actually running late, and as I was scanning through the radio stations a sermon caught my ear. Oddly enough I actually listened to it. I never listen to radio preachers. Never have. But this pastor (don't even know who he was) was preaching on the book of Job. Here are the verses that he read:



Job 3:11-13


Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb? Why were there knees to receive me and breast that I might be nursed? For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest.


Wow. I'm glad that I'm not the only person who has thought these words. I sometimes think, why in the world was I born? If God knew the things I would be tested with, why didn't He just take my life.


Check out some of the things that Job went through when he was tested....






Job 4:8-21


8 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." 9 "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. 10 "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face." 12 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger."


Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. 13 One day when Job's sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!" 16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!" 17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!" 18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, "Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!" 20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."




Job had his oxen and donkeys stolen, his sheep and servants were engulfed in flames, the Chaldean's took his camels,and wind collapsed the house where his family resided. His family was dead. His life as he knew it was over.


This is how I felt for SO long now. I feel like my life is over, like I have nothing to live for...even though I know I do. It's hard coping after you lose a child. I'd never wish these feelings on my worst enemy.


The trials that Job faced were not for his benefit alone, it was for ours also, that God led the man from Uz through the humbling interrogation (Job 38-41). We, like Job, can lose sight of "who God is" while suffering. But when we encounter God in the world and in the Word, we are reassured that God is the Powerful Creator, and the perfect Ruler.


That morning Job had been a wealthy man with many things, and then he was stripped of all his possessions. By the end of the day he had nothing, and no one but God.After everything that Job went through, in the end... he PRAISED GOD! Job knelt before the Lord and worshiped Him.


What an amazing example that Job has set before us all.


This may not make any sense at all...but it was just refreshing for me to hear this story over again. Much needed....