The Lord Gives and the Lord Takes Away

By Rev. Joel Fritsche

“The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). I’ve heard and spoken those words more times in the past few months than I have in a long time. I recently returned to parish ministry after serving four years on staff at one of our seminaries. We’ve had four funerals in that time. At the conclusion of reading the obituary at the funeral service, I always speak the words of Job 1:21. These are not easy words for anyone, even a Christian, to confess. Death and its sting are horrible.

There was recently a very tragic death in our small community. Two girls under age thirteen were out riding an ATV on family property. One was killed. The other walked away with a minor concussion but with lasting emotional scars. I attended the funeral along with a number of young people from my congregation and spent much of that funeral outside, praying with a handful of my youth who just couldn’t handle sitting in the packed little Baptist church. Seeing the body of one of their peers was difficult. For a couple of them, it dredged up painful memories of saying goodbye to grandparents. It was yet another reminder that death— whether it’s the death of a thirteen year-old girl or a ninety-six year-old woman—is tragic. How can we say, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord”?

Consider God’s servant Job.This man from the land of Uz had great wealth: sheep, camels, oxen, and female donkeys. He was blameless and upright (Job 1:1). He had a family that feasted together often. But in the blink of an eye, the Lord allowed almost everything to be taken away: his possessions, his children. Soon after, Job was physically afflicted with loathsome sores that he scratched with broken pottery (Job 2:8). Nasty! Despite his very sudden and tragic losses, Job “did not sin or charge God with his lips” (Job 2:10).Through both blessing and tragedy, Job received it all as gift from the Lord.

Job’s story is a gift to us from the Lord to be sure. In it we see ourselves: children of God, new creations by virtue of our Baptism. Yet we also see the struggle against the Old Adam. Temptation abounds in success and in suffering. Job had friends who fed him cliché sentiments in the midst of his suffering. We hear them too: “It’s ok” or “Your dad is in a better place.” Job’s wife told him to “curse God and die.” We know weighty temptations like that. We’re tempted like Job was when the fiery darts of the devil tell us that we must have done something to anger God. After considering plenty of advice from friends, even the blameless and upright Job thought God must have made a mistake by allowing him to suffer so severely. God graciously called Job to repentance, to fear, love, and trust Him above all things. He does the same for you.

We may wrestle with the secret things of God about which His Word is silent, but we rejoice in what God has revealed to us for our eternal good. Job knew what it is to have a full, rich, abundant life: “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!” (Job 19:25–27). Job knew the Gospel, God’s work of redemption. Whether you bask in your blessings or lament your losses, the Gospel reveals God’s undeserved love for you. In Christ, God’s wrath is satisfied. In Christ, your Redeemer, you have life that far exceeds earthly gain or success and endures beyond suffering, even death and the grave. You’ve been baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection. You have the promise of resurrection through Him who is the resurrection and the life. And that changes how you see everything!

God has brought you into His Church where the Gospel of Christ, crucified and risen, is boldly proclaimed, where full, abundant life is given you. You hear it. You taste it. You confess it.You even sing it:

Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure By the cross are sanctified; Peace is there that knows no measure, Joys that through all time abide.

By God’s grace, you are given to confess with Job and all the saints, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Rev. Joel Fritsche is pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Staunton, Illinois, a member of the Board of Directors of Higher Things, and can be reached at joelfritsche@me.com.