“The Lord Giveth and the Lord Taketh Away.”

Let me give you some context for what I want to say . . . . I have mentioned before that the very first Bible verse I remember hearing came from the lips of my paternal grandfather. By all accounts and with what little experience I had with him he was a Godly man. It was not one of the verses that so many learn at an early age but a line spoken by Job. It is found in chapter one verse 21 where Job says, “The Lord Giveth and the Lord Taketh Away.” I learned it as an object lesson from this saint of God. 

Staying at his home and sitting at his table  enjoying all the grandfather attention I decided I didn’t want what was on my plate but rather wanted dessert first. After a few minutes of my headstrong bad behavior he reached over . . . . took my plate and said, “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord . . . son you are now dismissed from the table.”

Secondly, this verse took on major significance when my wife of almost 55 years and with whom I had literally become “one flesh” in its full meaning passed from a side affect of her chemotherapy treatments for pancreatic cancer. This all happened in the midst of the infamous Covid-19 pandemic. I will go to my grave with the words of one oncologist in Houston ringing in my ears. Long story short, he said to me, “Based calling your wife’s medical history for the last two-and-a-half years she reported serious symptoms early enough for me to believe had she receive treatment then we would have had a very different conclusion. Your wife did not die with Covid-19 but she did die because of Covid-19.”

What he was telling me was that the most precious gift God had given me was taken because the healthcare system and the government failed. The pressure and restraints placed they upon doctors during the Covid-19 pandemic caused them to refuse referrals and new patients. As a result, my dear wife was unable to receive diagnosis and treatment until her cancer had metastasized. Unfortunately, metastasized pancreatic cancer is incurable. I watched has the most precious gift God has given me withered and died. 

It was when what I learned from my grandfather collided with what I experienced with the passing of my wife that I finally came to grips with Job’s dilemma. 

Unwittingly I was introduced by my grandfather to the Doctrine of the Sovereignty of God. I did not fully comprehend the full meaning of what he was teaching me that day. I have come back to that verse too many times because I had lost something.  However, as the years passed, little by little, I began to see there was more to this verse than just losing something. However, when my wife passed it put me on a collision course with the Sovereignty of God.

These two experiences form the context for what I want to say.

Somewhere in that journey I realized that with regard to this verse (Job 1:21b) I was always focusing on the negative. You know, “The Lord . . . and taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord. 

I suppose that which does not give us good feelings will inevitably be where your focus falls. We had something that pleased us, that helped us, that encouraged us and in my case in many ways was a part of us that was taken from us. I could spend time talking about the many examples of gain and loss in a material way but rarely are we so dependent upon anything material that if taken away could not be repaired or replaced. The would be illustrative but hardly sufficient when that which is taken away cannot be repaired or replaced.

But, what about when that which is more precious to you than your own life is taken? What then? 

Let’s back up and start at the beginning. No not the beginning of time but our beginning in time. I’ll say more about the beginning of mankind at a later date.  

In that verse my grandfather taught me that day there was a part of the verse he did not mention. The first part of Job 1:21, the part he omitted, states, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither.” This part of the verse is vital is essential to understanding not only this verse but the whole of the Book of Job. 

Job begins the story of his horrible time of consecutive and continuous loss be reminding the reader that we started out without anything and in the end, we will take nothing with us when we die. Implied in this is that not only did we come into the world with nothing but that everything we obtain we received by the grace of God and will be surrendered at death.

By the way, the idiom “Have the patience of Job” is a miss read of the Book of Job. I cannot relate to that Job. Truth is, Job was not a patient man and he was a man who did not mind confronting God and telling God how he really felt. Job said, “Blessed be the Name of the Lord” in spite of the fact he didn’t approve of anything God had done to his family and didn’t think God could show just cause for what He had done.” That Job is the Job with whom I can relate.

I did not and I do not like what God has done by taking my sweet Susan and a part of my own soul from me. However, I do know and confess that God is Sovereign . . . . He is Lord of all (owns everything) and therefore is can do whatever He chooses for whatever reasons He wants and still be righteous. He is Lord of all!

Susan and I believed with all our being that God had brought us together as a part of His plan in the Earth. He had chosen and prepared us for each other. As time passed, he created circumstances so that we would not only be husband and wife but we would achieve by His grace becoming One Flesh . . . a single independent living unit composed of a male and a female component . . . . we were no longer a two but one in every sense. As Susan and I journey through life somewhere along the way we got so mixed up together that I sense that she had not only got into my heart but also my soul. I had “found the one whom my soul loves” (Song of Solomon 3:4).  

She was a part of that “The Lord giveth . . .”  Know and experiencing her as a love gift from God has brought great joy to me heart and now that she is gone it brings great sorrow. Not sorrow that God has brought her into His presence but that she is no longer physically in my presence. 

So how do we respond to what the Sovereign God does when we don’t understand why or like what he is doing.  Let's look at that for a moment. I can tell you what I did and didn’t do.

1. First I didn’t do anything. I was just numb. The whole experience was not real and for days I walked around think that any minute Susan would walk through the door and this nightmare would be over. 

'2. Second, I do not recall ever accusing God of capriciousness or arbitrary in taking my Susan from me do I believe it was to punish me for my sin. But even if you do feel that way it is not wrong. I think God is big enough and loving enough to understand that the neurons in your brain have your emotions and thinking stirred-up like scrambled eggs. 

Let me be clear on this . . . . this does not mean that trouble and significant losses in our lives is a sign of God’s punishment for some kind of sin. Is it possible?  Yes.  Is it probable? No. Is it with purpose? Always

I know Him to be sovereign but I also know Him to be righteous.  However, I did want answers. 

• I wanted to know the reason why He decided this was the time for her to come home to Him? 
• I wanted to know what He was doing through her home-going and why. 
• I wanted to know why she had to suffer and fight as she did. 
• I want to know why He didn’t do it in a way that didn’t hurt so much. 
• I wanted to know, “What am I supposed to do now.”  

In short, I needed something to give meaning to what appeared to me to be a senseless series of events and as time passes, He step by step brings me to resolution if not full understanding. I never believed I was forsaken of God but there were moments when I did not fell His presence. However, though I did not feel His presence I knew He was there. How you ask did I know that. Because I know God is faithful and His word is true and He promised me that He would not leave me or forsake me . . . . He was there all the time. Like Job, even though I still did not fully understand or appreciate God’s authority or presence at the time I never doubted it.

Job knew something with which I needed to come to grips. Job knew that it is God who gives us everything, and He can take everything away at a time and place of His choosing. Nothing that happens does so outside of His control and at the very least His permissive will. Unfortunately, we are quick to recognize and bless His holy name when things are going well and not so quick when they do not.

I remember, a couple of weeks after Susan passed, I felt the urge to pray and thank God for the gift of her love; for allowing us to become so close that her passing caused me then and now such great pain; that He gave us the time and the guidance to become “one flesh;” and one day will once again place her hand in mine.

In Romans 11:29 Paul reminds us that “God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.” That makes Susan’s transition from this temporal world to Paradise (the place where Jesus is) so much more bearable even if still painful. It reminds me that Susan has not left me. She has not left me in the sense that her investment in my life is still with me. More importantly she has not left me but merely in another place awaiting me. In short, she is not dead nor doth she sleep!

I sometime think of it this way: She is in Paradise walking hand-in-hand with Jesus; I am here on Earth walking hand-in-hand with Jesus; Since we are both walking hand-in-hand with the Lord we are still walking together. 

It enables me to say with Job, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him” (Job 13:15).  I will trust in Him!

The key for me is understanding and accepting that God’s ways are so much higher than our own and though we are created in His image and with the capacity to have fellowship with Him we can never fathom the mind of God or fully understand His eternal purposes. I am finally at the place where I can say, because of it I can say not because events require it but because my heart and mind desire it, “Lord, I still don’t understand it and I am still hurting but I accept you will.”  

I have come to understand that God lso gives when He takes away.

When we can once again say with both heart, mind and soul . . . . “Bless the LORD, O my soul: And all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; Who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; Who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; So that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's” (Psalm 103:1-5 KJV) . . . . we will be well on our way towards our new normal.