Job 1:21 And he said,”Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
What do we enter this world with? Nothing.
We are born helpless, totally dependent upon the Lord and others for EVERYTHING as helpless babes. In fact, we are naked and can’t make others NOT look at our nakedness. We are exposed.
At the end of our lives when we die, we need someone else to clothe us. We do not go into the grave dressed unless someone clothes us (or leaves our clothes on!). In other words, we enter the world with nothing and leave it with nothing. Everything in between is given to us by God’s grace and everything we lose in between is taken from us by God’s grace. God the Father knows what is best so we must trust Him.
Also, we do not deserve anything in this life. We think we do and we think we are entitled to things in this life, but we are not. God gives. By His nature, He is an abundant giver. Everything we have He has given us – even eternal life since Jesus died for us without our help and input (everyone abandoned Jesus, remember?).
So Job’s attitude in this statement is profound. We deserve nothing so “Blessed be the Name of the Lord.”
We all – everyone of us – deserve death according to Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” That may sound harsh at first but that’s what the Bible teaches in this verse and in other places. We do NOT deserve eternal life – it’s a free gift from God.
Job got it. Job understood who he was and Who God is. Job knew he deserved death and that eternal salvation, every possession, every blessing, and every good thing in this life and in the life to come were a BONUS for him.
Do you get it? Do you realize that He has given you everything you have? Do you thank Him daily?
-Mark (longing to think more like Job every day, just not wanting all of Job’s suffering!)
(All verses excerpted from The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.)