Word of the Week

3/6/10

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. And 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.” In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong. Job 1:20-22 (NKJV)

In one day Job received one great loss after another until all his possessions were gone, and finally his ten children were all killed in a collapsed house. Under this devastating loss and intense grief, Job’s response was to fall to the ground before God and worship! There was no blaming God. Instead Job acknowledged God’s sovereignty. All he had in life was God’s, to give or to take away as God chooses. So even in pain, loss, and sorrow Job could proclaim, “Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

It is easy to worship God among the blessings He showers us with, but the challenge for us is to do so steadfastly during times of grief and anguish. We must be sure we are worshiping God Himself, not the created things He fills our lives with. All that we have comes from His hand and is His. That also includes the people He has placed in our lives. We have nothing and are nothing apart from God.

PRAYER: Dear God, I don’t always understand the loss, pain, sorrow in people’s lives. Yet I put my faith and trust in You to hold my life in Your hands, to order my steps, to be with me in whatever transpires in my life and in the lives of those I love. I praise Your name. Help me to accept all that takes place--the blessings and the sorrows.