Friday, February 19, 2016

THE LORD GIVES AND THE LORD TAKES AWAY

Proclamation:
"... Job ... he fell to the ground in worship 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.'  In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing." Job 1:20-22 (NIV)

Explanation:
After Job lost all of his livestock, and after his sons and daughters were killed, Job worshiped God and said The Lord has given and The Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of The Lord. (Job 1:21)  He did not blame God, or question God, regarding the loss of his possessions or the deaths of his children. 


Application:
Some people not only question God, but they get mad at Him, blame Him, even curse Him, and refuse to worship Him because a loved one died.  With our limited capacity for knowledge and understanding, we do not have any idea why God does what He does, when He does it, or why He allows some things to happen.  God is omniscient, He knows everything. (2 Samuel 14:20 and 1 John 3:20)  Job did not lose faith in God because bad things happened to him and his family.  Bad things will happen to all of us. (Job 14:1)  However, our troubles, trials, and tribulations are but a test of our faith.  (2 Corinthians 13:5 and 1 Peter 1:7)  We should not blame God because we failed the test.  We should praise and bless The Lord at all times. (Psalms 34:1)  Our problem is that we have very little faith in God, and since we do not exercise our faith, it is weak.  If we exercised our faith more often, we could develop faith like Job had and be able to praise Him during the bad times of our lives, even after the death of loved ones.  Remember that the earth is The Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein. (Psalm 24:1) Everything that we have belongs to Him.  He has blessed us with it, a temporary loan, to enjoy it for a season.

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