Job 1:13-22

Stripped of Every Possession

Job 1:13

There are dark days in our lives, when messenger follows on the heel of messenger, and we sit down amid the ruins of our happiness. All that made life gay and beautiful has withered and we are treading a dreary waste; our soul is almost dead within us and our feet are blistered.

Then our friends come and lay the blame on the Chaldeans and lightning, the Sabeans and the hurricane. They pity us as unfortunate and miserable. But we say to ourselves, looking beyond the secondary causes to the Cause beyond them all, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.” Sometimes we can get no farther than this, but how happy we are when we can go on to say, “Blessed be the name of the Lord.” The true soul is reckless of what happens to himself, so long as the glory of the Lord's name remains unsullied and enhanced. Let us, above all, never charge God with foolishness by impeaching His love or the rectitude of His decisions.