Job 1:21 - His Sovereignty and Our Stewardship

Job 1:21 “and [Job] said: 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, may the name of the Lord be praised.'”

Have you ever been reading scripture and something jumps out at you so suddenly and profoundly? For myself, that happened with this verse. Its two simple sentences but in it Job takes all of life and reduces it down to its pure essence. People live,  people die, people have, people don't have, God's glory is paramount.  We all start with nothing more than life, we all die and everything we accomplished, everything we gained here on Earth stays on Earth, it can't go with us. We leave as empty-handed as we arrived. Everything good in our lives is not just a gift from God but a trust, something God gives us stewardship over for a time until we no longer need it at which point the Lord takes it back, and no matter the situation, no matter what happens we are to be content, we are to be sanguine. God is to be praised in all situations and in all aspects of life from the most joyful to the most sorrowful.

God's mighty hand is at work in each and every one of our lives. We don't recognize His handiwork most of the time, but even the little passing things He uses to work in our life. The smallest of conversations to the most impressive of meetings – all of it is being turned to further His glory, and to raise us up in the way that He wants. Every joy and every sorrow, every experience we have is His to work with as He molds us.  The Lord's sovereignty over all is shown in that He commands the uncommandable, and it obeys. He tells the stars to shine, He commands the tides, He orders the rotation of the Earth. All creation obeys the creator.

Its a profound passage, full of meaning, full of applicability to our lives. Sure, it may seem fatalistic, but it provides us a freedom to live secure in the knowledge that “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”(Romans 8:28 ESV) It is calm acceptance that God is total control, that we merely must surrender everything to Him and let Him take care of it, after all we are merely stewards in His service, ambassadors to the world for Him.

This week, lets remember to praise God in all situations. Lets remember His sovereignty in our lives. In everything He gives and He takes, Blessed be the name of the Lord.

At all times praise the Lord;
His promises are sure;
What if thou doubt? His steadfast Word
Unchanging shall endure.
Praise Him when skies are bright,
And gladness fills thy days;
Heav’n shames thee with its glorious light,
And calls thee to His praise.

Praise Him when clouds are dark;
True faith waits not to prove;
Tho’ hope no bright’ning gleam may mark,
His meaning still is love.
Praise Him when drear and lone
The shadows ’round thee fall,
No eye upon Thy sins but One—
Fear not, He pardons all.
                    ^{John S. Howson, c 1880.}