When I was 16, both of my grandparents passed away within 3 weeks of each other. It was the first major loss I experienced, and it shook the foundation of my faith during what was already an unstable time. I remember turning to the song “Blessed be your name” as a consolation. It seems that when things are taken away, and I experience loss- deaths of people I know, the loss of my teaching job, the end of romantic relationships- it causes me to doubt God and question His goodness.
This month, I started reading the book of Job. As many of you know, the story starts with Job as a wealthy, god-fearing man and rapidly progresses as everything is taken away, his wealth and his family, to test his faith. And though Job cursed the day of his birth, and his friends and wife, he did not curse God.
Job 1:21
The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.
Being a Christian does not mean a life without pain or problems. There will be trials and testing. We may have to stand alone. But when all is stripped away, will we continue to believe and declare that God is good?
