"The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away"

For more years than I care to remember I have heard certain of my Christian friends quote the Book of Job, saying, "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away." In most cases it has been said following a death, particularly a tragic one. There can be no doubt that to be a Christian on occasions is very hard in that extremely difficult burdens must be born. Quite often we accept what has happened by comparing the suffering of Jesus on the cross. I am certain that he did suffer greatly and was an innocent man being executed unjustly. All Christians must feel very guilty at the thought of Jesus being put to death for the sins of the world. In fact, the doctrine of atonement is a bitter pill to swallow for most people.

There are those who declare that each world natural disaster is simply the "will of God." Confronted by an argumentative agnostic on such an occasion they shrug off the whole matter as being "God's unfathomable will." I wonder what their attitude would be if they were to be personally involved in such a matter. It is all too easy to write off a huge natural disaster like the Asian Tsunami as the "will of God" when you are not personally affected. As news of that great catastrophe hit our television screens the sheer numbers beggared belief. We were all stunned at the scale of this disaster. I know that a number of preachers were wondering how to address it in their next Sunday service. They wondered how they could ever preach on the love of God again. You see, they were thinking of the quote from Job Chapter 1, "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away." They were uncomfortable at the thought of having to stand before a congregation and exhort them to accept it all by quoting Job.

But, there is good news. The caption at the top of this blog is not what was written in the Book of Job. In the Authorised Version (or King James Version) we read, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away." The Book of Job is about a heavenly court in which God is proudly looking at the good deeds and pious worship of Job. Satan is a member of that court and says that Job might well be a pious and faithful servant with all that God has given him in terms of vast wealth. He challenges God to strip him of all this and then to see how Job reacts. Here I need to quote the whole text to impart real understanding:

"Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, and said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

The whole story is now completely different, and much easier to understand. I find the Book of Job a wonderful piece of literature which, in complex twists and turns, attempts to explain the matter of suffering. There is chapter after chapter of dialogue between Job and his so called comforters. Finally, following an understandably bitter outburst by Job at his situation, comes the voice of God. If you have never read Job, please read Chapter 38 onwards first. The poetry and description is out of this world.

I now turn to the Christians who misquote Job and urge others to simply accept on the occasion of a premature or tragic death that it is all the "will of God." To speak to a sufferer in this way is very cruel and wrong. An old trade union colleague of mine lost his daughter to cancer at the age of 15 years. Was this a case of God giving and then taking away? Never in this world! It is totally outside the nature of God as taught by Jesus. Turn to Matthew's Gospel where Jesus, in his Sermon on the Mount says to the crowd about the nature and personality of God, "Ask, and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, those who seek find, and to those who knock, the door will be opened. Would any of you offer his son a stone when he asks for bread, or a snake when he asks for fish? If you, bad as you are, know how to give good things to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him!"

It is here that we receive the Good News. We learn that God is a loving father who can be understood in human terms. Any father knows the great thrill of giving something good to his son or daughter. This is just how God is to be understood. God is a God of love. Time after time I have told mourners at a funeral service that God will not leave then to grieve alone. Through someone else he will come to them and give comfort that will be recognised for what it is. Because he loves us he does not leave us alone to suffer. To do that would be the action of a cruel father and God is a loving father who gives us what we need.

Right now, my family and I are struggling to come to terms with the impending death of my mother in law. She is 86 years old and has lived life to the full. She has been generous and loving to us all. Just over a week ago she went into hospital for a small operation on her wrist to realign a broken bone. The day after the operation she suffered a massive stroke and cannot communicate with anyone. There is no response when the doctors and nurses treat her. It is now only a matter of time before she finally leaves us. We are gutted. But, instead of saying we have been cheated by God, we believe it is more a matter of looking back upon the life of a loving mother and grandmother and being thankful. When God gave her to us he was being gracious indeed and we are grateful for the gift.

Put in context, she came into this world with no possessions and will certainly leave it without any. But the love we have known from her is boundless. "Blessed be the name of the Lord."