The Lord Taketh Away?

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."

In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. – Job 1: 20-22

Today’s Reading: Job 1-2; Acts 7:22-43

The Lord Taketh away?

So I’m sure many of you have heard the old saying “The Lord giveth, and the lord taketh away.”

Why do people quote this as if it is a spiritual truth? Job is the one who actually said it and it was out of an effort to make sense of all of the disaster happening in his life.

It also wasn’t accurate; Satan did all that stuff to him. But on the flip side God allowed it to happen. So does the allowing it to happen mean that God did it?

Tricky…

The consistent pattern in the Bible is that we lie in the beds that we make for ourselves. Earlier in the chapter it is stated that Job made sacrifices to cover for his kids in case they sinned. So what I inferred from that was that Job was the reason they were protected at that point… they didn’t take it up on themselves to cover themselves and as a result they could get smashed on.

Ummm.  Eh… I don’t know.

But yeah… this is one of those books. It deals with the complexity of trying to understand loss and trials. Where is the purpose in it? How are we supposed to carry ourselves in these times of trouble and pain?

Hopefully Job will teach us something; because as of right now, I don’t get it.