The Lord Takes Away

We all know that verse in Job.  You know, Chapter 1, verse 21.  Job, who has just lost most of his family, his possessions, and his dignity as well, says (in a spirit of worship, not despair),  
“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.”

Many people have no idea what it means to have something important taken away.   When we were evacuated from Zaire in 1996, we lost almost all of our earthly possessions.  Despite that, I feel very much like the person who has no idea what it really means to lose something, for I left the country with my wife and children, all of us safe and unhurt.  We were grateful, for we knew we could have lost so much more.

Others have had a different experience.  Just last week, close friends of ours lost their 15 year old daughter in a car accident which involved all four of their children.  With their daughter dead and three children in the hospital struggling for life, our friends chose to live by faith, quoting Job 1:21 in a defiant act of worship of our God. Not because they necessarily felt like saying it, but because their faith enabled them to say it.

God gives and he takes away. We have no problem with the giving, but we struggle greatly with the taking.  It is absolutely necessary to allow the Giver of life the right to also take things from his children.  This is where our faith comes in.  This is where we trust.  This is where we allow God to be God, and where we recognize that we are not.  And this is where, above all, we say in worship "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."