Loss

In our passage today, David, the man after God’s own heart, felt like he was caught in deep waters up to his neck. His feet were trying to locate a rock—a foothold—on the bottom of the stream, but he searched in vain and felt like he was sinking “in deep mire.”

So, check this out. You are your father’s favorite son and your brothers’ worst nightmare. It doesn’t help that you bring bad reports about them to your father and brag about dreams in which they bow down to you. They plan to kill you, mercifully throw you into a cistern instead, and then not so mercifully sell you to a traveling band of Ishmaelites.

Job survived. He endured heartache, heartbreak, physical pain, and mostly bad counsel from his so-called friends. In today’s passage, Job even prays for them! And God blessed Job by giving him twice as much as he had before. God blessed the latter part of his life more than the first.

C. S. Lewis wrote, “The human spirit will not begin to try to surrender self-will as long as all seems to be well with it.” When we are good, we’re good. We don’t need God. As one person said, “We regard God as an airman regards his parachute; it’s there for emergencies but he hopes he’ll never have to use it.”

Sometimes, life’s windstorms hit us hard and knock us off our feet. One person likened the storms to a blizzard and wrote, “The blizzard of the world has crossed over the threshold, and it has overturned the order of the soul.” The blizzards outside make their way inside and disrupt the rhythm of our lives. That’s what happened to Job. As we have seen, he lost everything and still praised the Lord. But Satan was merciless in his attacks. He was convinced that Job was self-centered and would turn on God when he encountered personal illness.

Standing by the freshly dug grave, I watched as a heavy-hearted couple made their way up the steep hill. The father served as the lone pallbearer. Only one person was needed to carry the small casket holding the body of his infant son. He placed the casket on the nylon straps that would lower it into the grave. What do you say to parents who have lost a child? I remember only hugs and tears as we waited for the rest of the family to gather on the windy hillside.

For the next few days, we are going to follow the journey of a great man who walked with God and held evil at bay. He was blessed with ten children and much wealth. He not only took care of himself, but his “regular custom” was to make sure his children were purified by the sacrifice of a burnt offering. Job was strolling along singing Curly’s song from the musical, Oklahoma! —Oh, what a beautiful mornin’! Oh, what a beautiful day! Everything was going his way until…the bottom fell out of his life. There was a time when a person heard the name “Job” and thought “blessing”; today the name is tantamount to suffering.

When we “know (and obey) the truth,” we will find the freedom in Christ we have been looking for.

I will share in his glory forever. Be encouraged! The best is yet to come.