Job 1:20-22 20 At this, Job got up and tore
his robe and shaved his
head. Then he fell to the
ground in worship
21 and said: “Naked I came
21 and said: “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.”
22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with
wrongdoing. 22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with
Before I start discussing Job’s tragedy, I would like to raise a few questions. How often to you think of God? Do you think of Him more often in good times or in bad times?
Remember the last time you succeeded in finding a job / got a raise / received an H1 / passed your driving test / got a ‘yes’ from your marriage proposal…, what immediately came into your mind? ‘My hard work had finally paid off!’, or ‘It is time somebody recognised my talent!’ Dare to admit that you actually believe that you ‘deserve’ what you’ve earned? Or do you praise God the instant you receive a piece of good news?
I’m always overwhelmed by success and achievements (not that I have many though…); I take pride in myself first, before remembering to thank God. Interestingly enough, we tend to think of God first when bad things happen. We love to question why; ‘O God why this is happening to me?’ ‘O God please take my suffering away.’ We ask God for help, we plead for his mercy; we humble ourselves before Him in hope of his salvation, sometimes we even blame Him for our misfortunes.
Looking at Job, having lost literally all his earthy possessions and family members in an instant (he was a very wealthy man with 10 children by the way), his reaction shows nothing but incredible faith.
We knock, and we ask through prayer; and we expect a favourable outcome, awaiting the ‘unexpected blessing’ from above.
However, if something gets taken away instead, something that we have for granted, would you still be able to ‘fall to the ground in worship, and say “May the name of the Lord be praised”?
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