At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then 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.” (Job 1,20-21.)

I was reading in the book of Job this other day. We get to know that Job was a blameless and upright man and that he was rich. Suddenly a great tragedy happened to him. All his belongings were destroyed and all of his children died. He lost everything! Verses 20-21 really amazed me. How could he praise God in such a situation? I think the key is he understood that his belongings were not really his. ”The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away”. The successful life was all by grace. Because of this understanding, he was not so detached to the things that he would become angry with God for the loss. Instead he could say “may the name of the Lord be praised”. A beautiful….

A beautiful sentence here is how he threw himself to the ground and praised God in the midst of all this suffering. While reading this I was asking myself the question; what do I do when things in life goes against me? The first thing I do is not to give thanks to God. So another question: Am I then more detached to the things than what is healthy and right? Is it more important to me than it should be? Am I a slave to what I should be free from? Am I a slave to something that Jesus Christ paid a high price, his own blood to free me from? Listen to this:
And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and raised again. 2.kor 5,15. If we really live for someone else than for our self, our possessions will not be that important for us.

I think there is really freedom in seeing that everything we own; our material things, our gifts and our lives are God’s. We are just his stewards. Freedom from ourselves, freedom from unnecessary disappointments, worries and bitterness when we understand that we don’t really deserve what we have. It’s all by God’s grace. Freedom to be the person who focus on the positive things. Freedom to be grateful.
Of course Job was extremely sad because of what happened. But I’m thinking like this. If he could give God thanks in such a horrible situation, then normally he would probably be the most jolly and positive person you’ve ever met. A man that always looked to the positive things and did not cry when he lost a few animals. Don´t you just love to hang around those kind of people?
With the rich man in NT, it was totally opposite. When Jesus asked him to sell all he owed, he got very sad and went away. His belongings were too important for him.

It’s so easy to ask God, ”why” when we experience bad things. But how often do we ask ”why” when we experience all kinds of good things? Instead we take it for granted, and think we deserve it. And the more we think we deserve, the more disappointments we meet, and the less positive and grateful we stay.

Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ef 5,19b-20)

May God help us to stay positive and thankful.
Thank you Father for you mercy upon us!