7 Minute Read
Prepare Your Heart
To the best of your ability, get rid of all distractions. Take a few minutes to breathe deeply and quiet yourself in the Lord’s presence. Then, ask the Lord to speak to you in this time. Let Him know that you will listen and make whatever adjustments He will reveal to you.
Read God’s Word
A Verse for Today
Slowly and reflectively read the following verse(s) and listen to what God will say to you through His written Word. Consider writing down any insights He reveals to you.
Job 1:20-22 (CSB): “Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped, saying: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will leave this life. The LORD gives, and the LORD takes away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.’ Throughout all this Job did not sin or blame God for anything.”
Reflecting on God’s Word
So many of us want others to think positively of us. Those desires hinder transparency as we navigate our struggles. We want others to think we are an incredible person of faith, but privately, we might be wrestling with the Lord and wondering why He seems so far.
It’s helpful to look to Scripture to make sense of how believers can and should navigate difficulties, and to appreciate God’s graciousness throughout it all.
When we read Job 1, we observe that Satan (with God’s permission) destroyed Job’s life. He took away Job’s wealth, his means of making money, and all of his children. Listen again to how Job responded:
Job 1:20-22 (CSB): “Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped, saying: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will leave this life. The LORD gives, and the LORD takes away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.’ Throughout all this Job did not sin or blame God for anything.”
I have noticed in my own life and in the example of other believers that we often begin this way. Life seems to fall apart. We are partly in shock and grieving, but we aren’t fully grasping the sense of loss and the fallout that will become our new normal. We rely upon our faith in God and respond similarly to Job.
But as the days pass and we begin to feel the loss more intensely, as we grapple with the apparent injustice of our circumstances, we may follow the path Elizabeth Kubler Ross outlined in her classic book, “On Death and Dying.”
- Denial (we can’t believe what happened)
- Anger (we are angry at what happened)
- Bargaining (we try to regain control of what happened, often in prayer to God)
- Depression (we feel the weight of our inability to change the outcome; loss of control leads to depression)
- Acceptance (we learn to accept and live with the loss)
I know a lady who lost her precious daughter in a car accident many years ago. She chose faith … initially. When concerned church friends asked how she was coping, she gave answers that sounded like she wasn’t dealing with the loss. She was saying all the right biblical things, but she wasn’t grieving. Her church friends were broken-hearted but not surprised when she eventually divorced her husband and began acting in bizarre ways, including having a sinful relationship with a much younger man. She didn’t deal with her grief, and it eventually led to an emotional and moral collapse.
Like it or not, we need to go through some really ugly emotions and be honest about those feelings if we are to emerge from the ordeal better, rather than bitter.
How did Job handle his grief? His response in Job 1:20-22 sounds wonderful. It sounds like a faith-filled answer. But it was only the beginning of his journey of grief. The shock of the incredible loss had not yet worn off. How did he fare as the book progressed? Just listen to some of the words that came from Job’s mouth as time passed…
Job 3:1 (CSB): “After this, Job began to speak and cursed the day he was born.”
Job 19:8-11 (CSB): “He has blocked my way so that I cannot pass through; he has veiled my paths with darkness. He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head. He tears me down on every side so that I am ruined. He uproots my hope like a tree. His anger burns against me, and he regards me as one of his enemies.”
Job 30:20-22 (CSB): “I cry out to you for help, but you do not answer me; when I stand up, you merely look at me. You have turned against me with cruelty; you harass me with your strong hand. You lift me up on the wind and make me ride it; you scatter me in the storm.”
As time progressed and Job felt his loss more keenly, he said things to and about God that we might not dare to say … unless we have experienced a significant loss like Job. When our heart is grappling with an enormous loss, we can feel and say things we might ordinarily never say. The Psalmist illustrates this point powerfully in many of the psalms, where he questions God’s justice, love, and much more.
There were also times in Job’s experience that he committed to serving the Lord even if God slew him (Job 13:15). He found comfort in knowing that his Redeemer lived and that he would see his God one day (Job 19:25-27). This reminds us that dealing with loss is like riding a roller coaster. There are times when we are angry and depressed, and other days when we find comfort in our God. I find the book of Job so refreshing because it is real. It causes us to see that Job dealt with immense loss, just as many of us do.
As the book of Job comes to an end, we observe the desired outcome of grief. We see Job as he listens to the Lord, is humbled by the Lord, falls in worship, and is comforted in his wonderful God. I have observed that some of the most spiritually mature people I know have at least one traumatic experience in their life. It was during that time that they learned that they needed the Lord and found Him faithful, even though they were not always faithful to Him during the ordeal. Those folks seem to have a greater love and deeper dependence on the Lord than so many other Christians.
This leads us to my final question: What does God think about it? What does the Lord think as He observes that we are riding the roller coaster of emotions, upset at Him one moment and finding comfort in Him the next? Just listen to how James (led by God’s Holy Spirit) summed up Job’s spiritual struggle and response to grief.
Job 5:11 (CSB): “See, we count as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job’s endurance and have seen the outcome that the Lord brought about—the Lord is compassionate and merciful.”
What we see in those words is that God’s grace showed up. Even though some pretty ugly words came from Job’s heart and out of his mouth, God credited him with being an example of endurance in difficult times. That lets us know that even when we look back and cringe at things we’ve done and said during the times when we walked through the valley of the shadow of death, our God is ready to forgive the bad stuff and highlight the good.
Spend Time in Prayer
- Ask God to help you rely upon Him in times of difficulty for grace to enable and grace to forgive.
Going Deeper
If you want to dig a little deeper into getting right when we have misbehaved before the Lord, consider reading the following GotQuestions article:
“What does it mean that Job repented in dust and ashes?”
Sharing
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Matt Ellis is the pastor of White Hall Baptist Church in Richmond, Kentucky (whitehallbaptistchurch.org)
Matt’s Musings 