5/26/21

 

Job

            Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell on the ground and worshiped. He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Job 1:20-22

Job has just had the worst day of his life with tragedy after tragedy after tragedy falling upon him.  All that he has left is his health, which is about to fail, his wife, who tells him to curse God, and his friends, who tell him that he must be evil for so many bad things to happen to him.  In the midst of heartbreak and chaos, Job mourns and grieves everything and everyone that he has lost.  But he does not lash out in anger.  He does not curse God.  Instead he worships, acknowledging that God both gives and takes away.  God’s goodness…His holiness…His worthiness to be worshiped…these are not conditional.  They do not increase or decrease based upon the circumstances of our lives.  God was the same when we were newborn and helpless.  He was the same when we were at the peak of our physical and intellectual abilities.  He was the same when we were rich.  He was the same when we were poor.  He will be the same when we are helpless at the end of our life.

Worship and praise of God are not just thank-you notes that we compose to the Almighty in response to His blessings.  We are to worship God because of who He is.  His power and goodness are unmatched throughout creation.  He is the one who creates and sustains life out of His love for us.

Compare this to what and whom we usually worship.  We don’t call it worship…it is just where we spend our time and our money and our attention.  It is the websites that we visit and the shows that we watch and the fandoms that we join.  We worship fame and power and beauty and money and image and health.  We worship big personalities who are here today and gone tomorrow.  We worship athletic teams and denominations and political parties that give us a sense of winning and being important and being righteous and being a part of something bigger than ourselves.

All these things pale in comparison to the Almighty Lord of Creation.  There is no one and no thing that is more deserving of our attention and affection than He.  Job knew that and praised his God, even when those around him encouraged him to curse God and just die.

It is easy to sit in Job’s seat as an IDD parent and think about everything that we have lost and all that we have suffered.  God has given us children, but we have lost jobs or friends or money or houses or identity or our spouse.  Some of us have even lost the child that God gave to us.  It is tempting to put together a list of what God has taken away.  It is tempting to decide that God owes us for what He has taken and that we deserve more from this life for what we have endured.

It is not easy to adopt Job’s mindset and character; to acknowledge our loss and grieve while at the same time remembering God’s goodness and worshiping Him.  We have been given treasure.  We have lost some important and valuable things as well.  Those are both true.  What is also true is that through all of that God is good and He deserves our praises and our worship. 

Blessed be the name of the Lord.

A moment to reflect:

How could you worship God today?