The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away.
Job's worship in the moment of total loss.
The episode in a glance.
- 01Job lost children, wealth, and health on the same day.
- 02His first response is worship, not blame.
- 03'Blessed be the name of the Lord' — even in loss.
- 04God is praised in both giving and taking.
Read along.
Job 1:21: 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.'
Job has lost everything — his children, his livestock, his wealth, his servants — all in one day. The next chapter takes his health too.
His first response isn't anger. It's worship. He tears his clothes, shaves his head, and falls to the ground in grief — and praises God.
'The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away.' Job recognizes that he never owned any of it. It was all God's, on loan to him.
'Blessed be the name of the Lord.' This isn't denial of pain. It's worship that holds the pain. Job will wrestle hard with God in the chapters ahead. But he starts here, with worship.