Not For Stuff

If God were to take away every thing that you hold dear - your health, your family, your finances, all your earthly possessions - would you still praise Him? Instinctively most of us would be tempted to respond with a tentative "yes", tentative because so far we haven't been placed in that position. However, in a culture where good health and material possessions are perceived as things to which Christians are entitled, and the basis on which we testify that "God is good all the time, and all the time God is good", would we still think He is good if He allowed the enemy to take it all away?

Satan, the one who accuses us before our God day and night (Revelation 12:10), doesn't think so. Consider this conversation between him and God: "Then the LORD said to Satan, 'Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.' 'Does Job fear God for nothing?' Satan replied. 'Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.' The LORD said to Satan, 'Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.' Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD" (Job 1:8-12, NIV). Those familiar with the story know the tragedies that came upon Job, one of the richest men of his day, as a result. He lost ten children, seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys, all but a few of his servants, and he himself was covered with sores all over his body. Lest we forget, God Himself said of him, "There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." If anyone deserved good health and material blessings, it was Job.

If we are honest with ourselves, facing the same set of circumstances, most of us would have abandoned God. We need look no further at how we react when something does not go the way we planned, or something bad happens unexpectedly. The reaction of Job's wife mirrors the human frailties, "Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!" (2:9). Unlike us reading his story, Job was not aware of Satan's accusation, or of the confidence God had in the fact that his worship of Him was not the result of the stuff He had blessed him with. But as the last messenger told him of the death of his sons and daughters, we read, "At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and 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. In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing" (1:20-22).

In the midst of circumstances we cannot begin to imagine, Job knew enough of God to know that He was still to be praised, He was still to be worshipped. It is one thing to praise God for all He has done in our lives, but it is something else to praise and worship Him because of who He is. The next time you offer up praise, consider what is it based on. Are you praising Him because regardless of what is going on in your life He is worthy to be praised, or are you praising Him because He has blessed you with stuff?