Does the Lord Give and Take Away?

In 2002 Matt Redman recorded a hit song “Blessed be the Name of the Lord.” One of the lyrics is quote from Job 1:21 where Job declares in his thinking that God “gives and takes away.” Is that what actually happened? Insurance companies call random disaster an “act of God.” Is that true?

[Job 1:21 KJV] 21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.

Job lost everything in a day and clearly in the verse above he believes that God did it to him. Is this accurate? In v. 12 of the same chapter we find that before Satan came into the picture nothing calamitous took place in Job’s life. Job suffered not at God’s hand but at the hand of the enemy. Theologians take exception to this sorely motivated to blame God for every negative thing that happens in the earth. The doctrine of sovereignty includes the supposition that when disease kills or infants die in their cribs that it is God’s making. Is this true? If so then Jesus was in error when He made the following statement:

[Jhn 10:10 KJV] 10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly.

You have to make up your mind if you are going to believe Job or believe Jesus. Jesus said if theft comes, if death visits, or destruction rains from on high it is the thief that originates it, not God. Jesus clearly makes the distinction. He came not to harm us or merely to give us grace to suffer – He came that you might have life and have it more abundantly. There are those who will disagree with this thinking and my response to them is this:

YOU FIRST!

If you think to defend the idea that God makes someone a quadriplegic for His glory, or gives cancer for His glory then in the hopes of glorifying God why don’t you go first in that line for these things to be handed out? Or perhaps your grandchildren or your children – let them suffer these things if they glorify God. The fact is people who think this way can only make sense of the suffering of OTHERS as being the ultimate will of God. They would never see their suffering as the will of God and they have the medical bills to prove it.

We have to choose whether to believe Job’s thinking or Jesus’ declaration. I choose to believe and trust in God for life and life more abundantly. How about you?