In Losing It All

Recently a member of my family died and a natural response was to reflect on loss. I wondered what it meant to lose it all. Would I still serve God if I lost it all? Would I still believe in God if I lost my job, my friends, my family, my house, my wealth, my health, my freedom, my reputation?

There's a well known story about a man named Job who lost everything. When I say everything, I mean everything. 

Now there was a day when Job’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were feeding beside them, and the Sabeans attacked and swooped down on them and took away the animals. They also killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was still speaking, another [messenger] also came and said, “The fire of God (lightning) has fallen from the heavens and has burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was still speaking, another [messenger] also came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three bands and made a raid on the camels and have taken them away and have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was still speaking, another [messenger] also came and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,  and suddenly, a great wind came from across the desert, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

- Job 1: 13-19

 

An Unhuman response

In one day everything Job held dear was gone. What was his response to all this? I imagine Job screaming as he tore his clothes (as was common in Jewish tradition). I imagine him crying uncontrollably with blood shot eyes, mucus dripping down his nose, saliva caught in a web between his lips as he spoke. What he would say in that moment would reveal what was in his breaking heart. 

image sourced from www.jw.org

Then Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head [in mourning for the children], and he fell to the ground and worshiped [God]. He said,

 

“Naked (without possessions) I came [into this world] from my mother’s womb,

And naked I will return there.

The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;

Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

 

Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.

 

- Job 1: 20-22

I don't know about you but this seems unreal! How does one lose everything like that in one fell swoop and their response is to worship God? Most people would blame God and be angry at Him. He fell to the ground and the words "blessed be the name of the Lord" came out. That's the definition of worshipping through pain right there! He worshipped God and did not blame him because He was confident in who God was and refused to shift his perception because of what he felt. His initial response was one Christians call "strong in God." No doubt He trusted God's sovereignty in his hardship. His faith is a model for us to follow. He preached to himself, his wife and his friends reminding them all of God's faithfulness. 

The Usual Rhetoric

If his plight ended here we might not have such a great story but as we read on we see that Job suffered even more as even his health deteriorated. Slowly, we begin to hear the rhetoric we would expect.

As time went on and Job's suffering continued, he shifted from righteousness to self-righteousness. Oh, how thin the line is and how many times I have crossed it! He looked at his condition and now determined it was unfair. Why should he as a righteous man go through such hardship? What had he done to deserve this? It's funny how he didn't ask this question when he was blessed. After all, what had he really done to deserve God's blessing? What can any of us really do to deserve the blessings of the God that owns everything and created everything and has given up his own self for us? He no longer preached to himself. His prideness of heart had blinded him so that all he could see was the injustice done to him.

"I am disgusted with my life and loathe it!
I will give free expression to my complaint;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul."

 

"I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me [and declare me guilty]! Show me why You contend and argue and struggle with me... Does it indeed seem right to You to oppress, to despise and reject the work of Your hands and to look with favor on the schemes of the wicked? ...Although You know that I am not guilty or wicked, yet there is no one who can rescue me from Your hand...I should have been as though I had not existed; [I should have been] carried from the womb to the grave.’ "

 

"Know then that God has wronged me and overthrown me and has closed His net around me...As God lives, who has taken away my right and denied me justice and the Almighty, who has caused bitterness and grief for my soul... Far be it from me that I should admit you are right [in your accusations against me]; Until I die, I will not remove my integrity from me.

 

- Excerpts from Job

I've often wondered why God was silent through all this. He could have comforted job. He could have reminded him that he was taking care of things. There's so much I'd have expected God to do. But He didn't. He didn't speak; he didn't comfort; he didn't fix the situation. I can't claim to know the reason for God's prolonged silence but I do know that the silence revealed what was was really in Job's heart. It's hard to know how sure and steady something is without testing it.

God Responds: The Encounter

God wasn't silent forever. He spoke. And when He did, it reduced Job to such a position of humility that his self-righteousness disappeared. You can read God's response to Job here . After God spoke, Job's injustice no longer seemed relevant to him. His pain seemed inconsequential. Perspective is everything isn't it? Compared to his friends and the world, his pain was big, his grievances were deep, his rightness was pristine. Now, compared to God, he was faithless, undeserving, frail and weak, and saved only by grace (unmerited favor). Job knew who God was and had often prayed to God but had never heard the voice of God so clearly as he did that day. He had never stood in the courthouse of God to be probed and questioned by righteousness itself. His soul had never felt so near to God yet at once so far away. 

Then Job answered the Lord and said,

“I know that You can do all things, and that no thought or purpose of Yours can be restrained. [You said to me] ‘Who is this that darkens and obscures counsel [by words] without knowledge?’ Therefore [I now see] I have [rashly] uttered that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, please, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct [and answer] me.’ I had heard of You [only] by the hearing of the ear, But now my [spiritual] eye sees You. Therefore I retract [my words and hate myself] And I repent in dust and ashes.”

- Job 42: 1-6

“In losing it all, he found God in earnest! It was never about what he lost. It was always about who he would find.”

Job would never forget that experience. He wouldn't remember it as the most painful experience of his life, though it was. No! He wouldn't think of that day and recollect it as marked by the deep pain in his heart or sores on his body or the mocking voice of his wife or the pointed fingers of his friends. All that seemed but a shadow in light of his experience with the Almighty! He would remember it as the day he met God. That day, none of his physical circumstances changed but his heart did. It's remarkable to see that the minute his heart changed his physical circumstances followed. 

Key Question: If God took away everything I held dear would I still hold him dear? Would he still be more than enough? If I lost it all, would I be content with gaining more of God in exchange?

A Prayer to End It All 

I cannot start a story without telling you how it ends. In conclusion, it ends well for Job. He was changed through a God-encounter that evoked a prayer of humility, a heartfelt acknowledgement of God's sovereignty, and forgiveness for his friends that had accused him. That was the beginning of his restoration and increased blessings. 

The Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him over all the [distressing] adversities that the Lord had brought on him. And each one gave him a piece of money, and each a ring of gold. And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. He had seven sons and three daughters. And he called the name of the first [daughter] Jemimah, and the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-happuch. In all the land there were found no women so fair as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. After this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations. So Job died, an old man and full of days.

- Job 42: 10-17