Take Away

Take Away

I think we are familiar with the scripture “the Lord gives, and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord”. We sometimes tend to quote scripture incorrectly or without context. The full context of the scripture is Job’s response to the loss of family and possessions. He says-

20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
    and naked I will depart.[c]
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
    may the name of the Lord be praised.”

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

I went through a period that in my life. Like Job, I daily tore my robe and cried out to God. Why me? Why my son? Where were you God? How can you ever work this tragedy for good? You see, all these responses are completely normal and understandable. Today, we may find ourselves asking the same questions. Any sort of personal loss requires a response that may seem irrational; loss does that. There is pain, fear, suffering and anxiety experienced when one suffers loss. Many people today find themselves at this crossroads. 

You see, once we have played the irrational card, we find ourselves at a crossroads; will we allow bitterness to set in or will we find a way to worship God? Worship always pays dividends. Worship allows us to abandon our irrational response and spiritually discern what our next step should be. 

I know what it’s like to lose a job, suffer financially, lose control of my physical body and loose a son. It’s all loss at the end of the day. Things will recover, things will return to normal; of this you can be assured. God gives and God takes away. This will never change until we are with Him for eternity. 

The key here is Job’s conclusion of the matter; “May the name of the Lord be praised”.

This season calls us to praise the name of the Lord. The name above all names

Trying to be Superman

I come from a long line of Supermen. My grandfather was an amazing man, a veteran, the father of 5 boys and a marriage that lasted 50 years. My father was equally amazing. He left shoes that I will never fill. Many of you reading this post knew my father and appreciate the caliber of man he was. I have many things in common with these great men, "things" not characteristics. Like my father and my grandfather, we outlived some of our children and experienced the loss of a son. I saw these men deal with their pain and loss while maintaining their family, work and their life. I stand in awe of how they were able to do that.

I am no Superman! I have struggled with being a husband, father and pastor. These lessons are learned the hard way; trial and error with emphasis on error. I so wanted to be a rock "Superman" for my family like my ancestors but I feel like I have not lived up to their example. Please understand that i'm not seeking your pity, I just know how to realistically rate my performance over the last year. I could have never imagined how hard this road could be and how lonely one can feel while walking it. Everything becomes difficult, every relationship become strained. I find it difficult to control my tongue, my emotions and perspective. The pain that I experience is no different then the pain my family is in. Just because I lost "My Son" is not a greater than their loss; it's just a loss. There are times in my mind when I error on making this a contest about who is hurting the most.

The lesson

The cool thing about Jesus is that He is the perfect example for me to follow. Making other peoples grief greater than mine is the secret. I cry out for people to feel my pain while I forget the fact that Jesus is the only person in my life who can care for me the way I need to be cared for. Think about how much dysfunction comes from our inability to cast all our care upon Him because He cares for us? Maybe what made my dad and granddad supermen was the fact they figured this out. There is only one Superman; Jesus my friend and my king. I consider myself a super failure but I have access to Super Love, Super Grace, Super understanding and Super Power!

Oh how blessed I am.