Job 1:21 - Summer of Scripture

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Welcome to Summer of Scripture on the Naked marriage podcast. For 66 days in a row, we're releasing a short daily devotional for your marriage. Over these 66 days, we'll be sharing one scripture from each of the 66 books of the Bible and talking about how it applies to your life and marriage. Listen to all 66 episodes of these and you'll have a better understanding of God's word and his perfect plan for your marriage. Let's dive in to today's scripture. Welcome back to Summer of Scripture here on the Naked Marriage Podcast. Thank you for hanging with us. I hope you're growing and learning so much. I know I'm learning a lot. I mean, even in just these discussions. And I love hearing from you guys and what you're getting from it. Keep on emailing us. Keep on leaving those reviews and reaching out to us on Instagram. Ave and Ashley Willis. We are a big community. We love hearing from you guys and just knowing what's resonating. All right, Today is day 18. We are reading in Job, and it's chapter one, verse 21. It says this. He said, I came naked from my mother's womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord. And if you know the story of Job, you know that Job was considered a righteous man, a man who loved the Lord, a man who was doing well in life. But then all of a sudden, things weren't going so well for him. Right, sweetie?

Oh, yeah. You know, coming back to that one verse real quick, I just. I remember watching a reality TV family that we followed, and they went in for an ultrasound and there was no heartbeat for this baby.

Yes.

And this moment was so real and so raw. And this family's a Christian family. And one of just the purest acts of faith. This mother with tears in her eyes as she's grieving the loss of this baby within her. The first word she says, and it was so heartfelt the way she said it was, she quoted this verse, she said, the Lord gives and The Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And I thought, man, what a powerful example of faith. Instead of just shaking our fist at God in the moments where pain comes to say, lord, you're the one who gives you take away. But in all of it, we can trust.

I'm trusting you.

We can trust that you're a good God. We can trust that you're for us. And Job, his life is just a beautiful example of that. He was a righteous man. He did things right. And Satan wanted to test him, wanted.

To mess with him.

And God allowed. There's a lot of. I mean, deep theological questions here, but, you know, God allowed Satan to really test Job's faith.

Yeah.

And so he was in these spiritual attacks, physical attacks, attacks on financial attacks, health. Like, everything was taken away from him. And to the point where his own wife was like, just curse God and die.

And his friends, like, there's a whole.

Big dialogue with friends like, oh, you're suffering. It must be karma. It must be, you did something really bad, and God's punishing you. And Job did not. He did not lose his faith. Now he gets to a point where he's really questioning God. And I think, like, any of us would, God, where are you? And God essentially responds to him like, you know, well, the short of it is almost like, I'm God, you're not. You know, I run the universe. And, you know, you eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and, like, just trust me. And Job, ultimately, even in his pain, came back to that place of surrender and submission to God, knowing that God was good and that he could trust God's will. Even though he slay me. Job say, I mean, he could kill me. I'm going to praise him because he's my creator. He's my good God. And then God ultimately blessed and rewarded Job's faithfulness, restored Job with, and went even beyond more than he'd had before.

Exactly.

And it's a beautiful and powerful story about faith through suffering. And every marriage is gonna have the sickness part of in sickness and in health. The worst part, for better, for worse. And when those moments come, I think Job's a great example of how and why we should hold on.

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When I think about this story of job and like you said about the woman who lost her child and saying, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Praise be the Lord. I remember a friend of ours, years ago, her baby got diagnosed with cancer. Sadly, he did have to lose his eye in the process. But in good news, you know, better news, much better news, that cancer only was there and it didn't spread to the rest of his body and he's been cancer free all this time. But I remember in their homeschool group maybe several years ago, there was another mom that, you know, it's a very close knit group where their son was having some issues with, went to the doctor and was diagnosed with cancer. And if you've walked through that, it can be really triggering. But she said, this mother reported this to the home school community with tears in her eyes and a shaky voice and everything. I'm sure, I mean, any parent would just feel complete and total sadness. She said, you know, we're gonna get through this. He's been diagnosed with cancer. And she said, the Lord gives and takes away. Praise be to the Lord. And my friend said, you know, I just was so struck by that. I know where that verse comes from. But she said, you know, in some weird way it does bring you peace. Because I think it's a way of saying this is out of my hands, you know what I'm saying? And I know this, losing a child or a child being diagnosed with cancer, those are things that take our breath away. And there's something that, because especially, you know, thankfully this child didn't end up overcoming cancer as well, but there are times when that's not the case. And I think especially when it comes to our children facing a possibly deadly illness or, you know, miscarrying a child or just whatever it is. It's those things that keep us up at night. It's those things that we want to shake our finger at God and say, how could you? You know, and job, in a sense, I mean, he was experiencing all these things and every kind of loss I think a human can experience. And he still chose to say, the Lord gives, the Lord takes away. You know, essentially I'm still gonna praise him. And I think that when we as married people are going through any kind of hardship where it is something that is so devastating when we can, you know, we can still be angry at God. We can still question God again. We're just human beings. But being willing to come open handed and saying, lord, I know you are the one who created us, and I know you're the one who can take things away and people, you know, up to heaven whenever you want, but we're still gonna praise you regardless because it's your plan and not ours. I think that there's freedom in that and I think that it does take a certain spiritual maturity to get there. So this isn't to judge anybody who isn't there immediately. I think most of us would not be there immediately, you know, but just.

Holding with open hands everything in life, realizing that God ultimately gives and takes away and that we can trust him through it all.

Yes.

And that again, one day with that eternal perspective, we're going to be in a place where there is no more cancer, no more pain, no more loss. And we look forward to that day. And in the meantime, we can trust him even with our pain. It is freeing. It's just freeing that whatever happens, I can trust God. Whatever happens, God is good. And to keep that perspective in whatever hardship you're facing, because we're all facing something to different varying degrees, we're all facing something. But God is with you in all of it. And his promises are true in all of it. Guys, thanks so much for tuning in today. Share this one maybe with someone in your life who's going through a particularly difficult time. And hopefully they'll find comfort in these truths as well. And join us tomorrow where we will be in the Book of Psalms, which is just one of the most beloved books in the entire Bible. We will see you then.