Page 11 - Good News July 2012 paper

Continued from p. 10 grieve over a great loss. They believe ultimate response of the man of faith taken away.”
Continued from p. 10
Fourth, a great wind hits the house that tears somehow show a lack of in the face of unexplainable tragedy. This is a man of faith speaking. This
where his children are feasting and faith in God. Even in a great loss, they He weeps and then he worships. This statement rises above the first one. It
kills them all (verses 18-19). believe it is somehow holy to put up a is what differentiates the Christian is true that we leave it all behind. But
The four messengers of misfortune good front and never show pain. from the rest of the world. They weep; the man of faith understands that all
come to Job one after another. Three They even have trouble dealing with we weep. They get angry; we we have we never owned in the first
times the text says, “While he was people who show great emotion after worship. Our sorrow is just as real as place. All that we have was given to
still speaking” (verses 16, 17, 18). a severe loss. theirs, but their sorrow leads only to us by God. He can take what is
In the space of a few minutes, Job I remember discussing this with a despair, whereas ours leads to rightfully His any time He wants.
lost everything that was dear to him. friend who told me that when his worship! Because He is God, He doesn’t have
His vast wealth: vanished. His father died he never cried, not even to ask our permission before He
empire: crumbled. His workers: once. He simply called the under- There is Profound Faith takes it back, nor does He have to
murdered. His children: killed. taker, and that was that. Verse 21 records Job’s great state- explain Himself afterward.
That’s the worst of it. When tragedy When I told him that I had cried many ment of faith. He says three things.
strikes, it often comes again and times when thinking about my 1. “Naked I came from my mother's 3. “May the Name of the Lord be
again. And we think, “This must be father’s death, he simply could not womb, and naked I will depart.” praised.”
the worst of it.” Then comes another understand it. To him, tears were a This is literally true, as every Job’s faith now rises to its highest
knock at the door. Just when it seems sign of weakness. But the Bible never husband who has ever been present level. He has lost it all: his wealth, his
that things can’t get any more terri- says that. We are told that “Jesus in the delivery room can testify. All workers, his children. All that he
ble, the bottom falls out again. wept” (John 11:35). Abraham and babies are born naked. We have a counted dear in life has been ripped
Job lost it all - not in a year or in six David and Jeremiah were real flesh- phrase for that. We say that a naked from his grasp. Yet in the midst of his
months or in a couple of weeks, but in and-blood men who were not afraid person is wearing his “birthday suit.” pain, Job praises God.
a single afternoon. Tragedy is no to weep and cry and cover them- But it’s just as true at the end of life.
respecter of persons. You can be on selves with mourning garments. No We leave the way we enter. We bring Here is the great point: Job draws his
top of the world and lose it all in the one believed in God more than they nothing with us, and we take nothing argument for praise from the bitter-
twinkling of an eye. Tragedy can did, and yet they were not ashamed to with us. Sometimes when a person ness of suffering. His loss drives him
come to the same house again and let others see their pain. dies we ask, “How much did he back to the goodness of God. Every
again, and there is nothing we can do We do not have a High Priest who leave?” The answer is always the pain is a reminder of how good God
to stop it. cannot be touched with our weak- same: “He left it all.” An Italian had been to him.
nesses (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus knows proverb says, “The last robe has no
FROM WEEPING TO WORSHIP what we’re going through - He is with pockets.” You’ll never see a moving Someone has said that “the magni-
The only thing that is left is to see us in the midst of the storm. He truck following a hearse. When you tude of the loss determines the size
Job’s response. knows what it’s like to die of a broken die, you leave it all behind! of the gift. The greater the sorrow, the
“At this, Job got up and tore his robe heart. If our Lord was not ashamed of All we have, is given to us on greater the joy must have been.”
and shaved his head” (verse 20). His tears, we shouldn't be ashamed temporary loan. No matter how much Every tear is a way of saying, “Thank
These are the actions of a man whose of ours. we have been given in this life, we you, Lord, for what You have given
heart has been torn apart. They are cannot keep it. In the end we have to me.” In Job’s case, the more he
public symbols of inner pain, much There is Heartfelt Worship give it back. grieves, the more he blesses the
like wearing black to a funeral. “Then he fell to the ground in Name of the Lord!
Some Christians think it is wrong to worship” (Job 1:20). Here is the 2. “The Lord gave and the Lord has Continued on p. 12
Continued on p. 12