Thursday, November 23, 2017

Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?           
                                                                                                                           Job 2:10
          When Job posed this question to his wife … who was infuriated by the suffering that had descended on her good and righteous husband … he wasn’t suggesting that God has a bucket filled with good things and a bucket filled with bad things, and that when God has tossed enough good things at us from the first bucket, he starts tossing bad things from the second bucket.  God doesn’t work that way, and Job knew it.
            Job simply recognized the realities of life.  Bad things happen.  Sometimes really, really bad things.  To good people.  Really, really good people.  This is a world in which babies can be diagnosed with cancer.  Young people’s lives can be cut short by a car accident.  Older folks can suffer from dementia.  This isn’t Eden or Heaven, and Job knew that.  So should we.  “Lord, I do not ask you for a trouble-free life.  I ask only that you be with me to guide, comfort, and restore me, as you did Job, when troubles come.”
©Carol Dean Henn, 2017