Monday, June 13, 2005
LUKE 9:46-50
I was watching a program on natural disasters recently on the National Geographic channel. It showed scenes from different disasters that occurred all over the world. Common to all these scenes were people dazed, no longer in control of their lives, overwhelmed by senseless tragedy. It also shows a sense of helplessness and even hopelessness among these people.
Job suffered one catastrophe after another. His property was destroyed; his animals, his servants and all his children were killed. If anyone had good reason to be outraged at God and to damn him, Job certainly did. Yet he neither lost his temper nor did he give vent to his outrage. Quietly he expressed his faith in the Lord God,
Naked I came forth from my mother's womb,
And naked I shall go back again.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the Lord!
Job's faith in the Lord is greater by far than all the pain and suffering he has undergone.
We hope that we shall never experience the terrible sufferings and tragedies that Job underwent; and, hopefully not many of us will ever have had to bear the pain of living through any catastrophic devastation. But being human, many of us may have been confronted by other kinds of unspeakable tragedies in our lives. How do we react to these horrifying tragedies and calamities?
Job did not curse God. Rather he blessed him because he realized that all of life is a gift from God. He did not dare to think that he was entitled to more than God had given him. He knew that all that was given to him was a blessing from the Lord. We have much to learn from Job.
Job suffered one catastrophe after another. His property was destroyed; his animals, his servants and all his children were killed. If anyone had good reason to be outraged at God and to damn him, Job certainly did. Yet he neither lost his temper nor did he give vent to his outrage. Quietly he expressed his faith in the Lord God,
Naked I came forth from my mother's womb,
And naked I shall go back again.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the Lord!
Job's faith in the Lord is greater by far than all the pain and suffering he has undergone.
We hope that we shall never experience the terrible sufferings and tragedies that Job underwent; and, hopefully not many of us will ever have had to bear the pain of living through any catastrophic devastation. But being human, many of us may have been confronted by other kinds of unspeakable tragedies in our lives. How do we react to these horrifying tragedies and calamities?
Job did not curse God. Rather he blessed him because he realized that all of life is a gift from God. He did not dare to think that he was entitled to more than God had given him. He knew that all that was given to him was a blessing from the Lord. We have much to learn from Job.
# posted by F O O D F O R T H O U G H T @ 1:20 PM 
