Giving, Taking, Blessed, Trust

Job had a great life. Then one day it all fell apart. Bad news comes pouring in. Everything is gone, including his family. At that point, Job makes a truly incredible comment. "He said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD." Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God." (Job 1:21-22) For me, the incredible part is not the gave/taken away part. It is the Blessed be the name of the Lord. People who have not dealt with powerful loss cannot understand those words completely. I do not believe that I have ever experienced loss deep enough to appreciate what went into Job uttering those words. The better things go, the easier it is to appear to trust God, and to think that you are. This was satan's point to God when he demanded permission to hurt Job. He thought Job's trust ran only as deep as his comfort. Satan was wrong. Job's trust ran very deep indeed. Even as he was desperately hurt and then sick, he never stopped trusting, even though he longed to understand. The deeper the ache of hurt, the greater the trust must be. I struggle with trusting God when I just fear the ache. Those who know me know how much I can worry over my family. Trust does not remove the ache, but it gives you a handle to hold onto while you live the ache. It lets you remember that there is a world and reality beyond the ache in your heart. I want to direct you to the blog of some friends of mine, Bill & Teresa Legere who lost their 9 year old daughter a few years ago. It was on the news at the time. They are active in ministry in our sister church East Auburn Baptist. I cannot read their writing without tears and what must be a faint echo of the ache that they have felt. Yet they demonstrate what faith can do in not removing or soothing the ache, but giving you the strength to survive it. Post 1, Post 2, Post 3 The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. We do not always (or even often) understand why, and at those times, whether it is small stuff or big stuff, our faith is tested. It reveals to us how much we really trust and cling to God. It also allows us the opportunity to cling more strongly, to trust more deeply, to be more real in what it means to believe in and follow Christ. If we become defined by our hurt. If hurt turns to anger or bitterness, it shows that our trust is mostly talk and play acting. If we become more tender, more caring, more gentle in the midst of hurt, it shows that God is at work to use the ache to further conform us to His image. This is deeply personal for me as I continue to go deeper with God. I have a LONG way to go. But with the (relatively small) aches that He has allowed, I can so far say, "Blessed be the name of the Lord."