This Day in History: 0000-10-03

October 3 – Job 1:21

He said, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!”

How many of us can say this is our attitude when, like Job, we face incalculable loss? Let me tell you right now, not me! Maybe I eventually get there, but in those first moments, when the loss is fresh? Not even close. The words most likely to escape my lips in those moments are, “Why me?” Not, “Praise the name of the Lord!” But I really want that to change.

I want to have a faith like the faith of Job more than I want anything else in the world! I want God to say of me to the enemy, “Have you considered my servant Cherith? There is no one on earth like her; she is blameless and upright, a woman who fears God and shuns evil,” as He said of Job in verse 8! I want to trust God so wholly that when tragedy strikes I respond with confidence in His goodness. A confidence so strong that praise will instinctively escape my lips immediately in all circumstances.

How about you? How would you describe your trust level? Is it like Job’s? Or are you more like me?

Friends, our God is good. Without question, and without exception! We can trust that goodness in all circumstances. There is a bigger picture we can’t see, but He can. We can trust that He is working within that grander knowledge for our good, even when we just can’t see it. So, may we go forward with confidence. Boldly proclaiming,

“The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. PRAISE THE NAME OF THE LORD!”