Job 1:6-22 / Lk 9:46-50
We are such creatures of habit, following our daily routines, driving along the same routes, ordering the same meals and buying the same clothes. One of our most deeply ingrained habits is taking our surroundings and even one another for granted. That extends to our very life as well: We’ve been alive as long as we can remember, so of course this life is ours.
In today’s Old Testament reading, the prophet Job faced one of the biggest challenges that any of us can encounter. Except for his life, he lost all the things that we thought were his own: His sons and daughters, his home, and all his wealth. Nothing was left. And how did he respond? With the truth, “The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
It’s worthwhile wondering what our reaction might be in similar circumstances. Anger, resentment, despair, or all of them at the same time? Given the nature of the human condition and of our mortality, every one of us needs to be ready for those moments of loss which inevitably come. Will we be able to give thanks for the unearned gifts as Job did? Can we let them go without losing heart? If we cannot, then our lives have really made no sense, and we have learned nothing.
Don’t let that happen to you. Tell the truth now, and tell it with a happy heart: I am much beloved by God who made me to spend eternity in his embrace.
