Adam L. Mathis ⎮  Summer 2011

Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. 

–Job 1.21 (NRSV)

Trust in the Lord.

Hang around Christian circles long enough and you will be told this: trust in the Lord. A great phrase for a song, it can be good advice; however, like so much Christian vernacular, it can be problematic since we do not reflect on the vernacular. The problem is easy to extract with just a moment’s thought: what do we trust God to do? The phrase does not answer that question, but can merely beg it.

The meaningfully dense verse from Job quoted above provides an answer to that question. Within his statement is a great deal of nuance and a great act of faith in God because it does not ask anything of God, but allows the Lord to reign over all of creation.

…the Lord has taken away…

A good starting point for understanding what Job said is not at the beginning, but in the middle with his acknowledgment that the Lord has taken. This statement when qualified by the recognition that he entered this world, and will leave this life, with nothing is remarkable for the lack of egocentrism involved. Job does not hedge that this will somehow make his life better by making him a better person—though it will—but simply acknowledges that his possessions are not really his. The prerogative for what Job can possess lies with God.

Some have a habit of trusting God only for good in their lives. If God is not rewarding them, then something is wrong. This attitude is similar to that of Jesus’ disciples when they saw a blind man and asked “who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind” (Jn. 9.2)? Jesus’ answer implies that the question misses the point. His blindness existed “so that God’s works might be revealed in him” (9.3). Essentially, Jesus is saying that this man’s ailment has nothing necessarily to do with him, but is how God is choosing to further his own plan for Israel and the world. Job recognized this as well when he placed himself under the Lord’s mercy: “Shall we receive the good at the hand of God and not receive the bad” (Job 2.10)?

…the Lord gave…

Perhaps more radical than allowing his wealth and comfort to pass away with trust in the Lord, is Job’s statement here. Job lost the work of his hands: livestock, most of his servants, and his children (Job 1.14-19). This probably represented a lifetime of work on his part and an inheritance from his ancestors that he had worked to develop.

But is it truly his work? Granted that Job put his hands to the tasks, but the story indicates that it was not really his work that brought about the gain; this insight, ironically enough, came from Satan. When God boasts of Job’s faithfulness, Satan replies, “You have blessed the work of his hands…” (Job 1.10).

Job’s statement about the Lord giving, clarified by Satan’s observation, raises again this radical notion of trust. Instead of trusting that we did the work because, well, we put our hand to the task, “the Lord gave” calls us to recognize that it is truly God who gives. We certainly participate in the work, but as Paul pointed out to the Corinthians, God gives the growth (1 Cor. 3.5-10).

This is why Job’s assertion that “the Lord gave” is a greater act of faith than the Lord took away. When a sudden disaster comes upon one of us, it is easy to turn to God since many of the circumstances lie outside of our control. But when it is our work, something that we seemingly have authority over, then it becomes difficult to give all of the glory to God. We must deny the observation of our senses to some extent, and acknowledge that while we may not have seen it, God was at work providing the fruit of the labor.

…blessed be the name of the Lord.

For trust in God to truly exist, this final phrase must be present. We could acknowledge that God gives and takes, but that could be a grudging recognition, one tinged with resentment toward an oppressive and powerful being. “Blessed by the name of the Lord,” however, gives the knowledge the positive, heartfelt measure that is necessary for this to be the act of trusting.

If the name of the Lord is blessed, then we can trust that God is not working toward some despotic goal. If struck blind, we can rest comfortably in the knowledge that God’s plan is good, even if the blindness has nothing to do with me. Job’s level of trust involves a deep devotion to the character of God apart from our own gain or improvement: God will act in the best interests of his kingdom and Job was willing to serve in whatever way God wanted him to, whether it helped Job or not. Ultimately, God’s plans will be for our benefit and glory, but this level of trust focuses on the character of God apart from ourselves.

Trust in the Lord to bring his kingdom.