“You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” Job 1:10-11
As a kid I loved to read the comic strip Peanuts. Charles Schultz brought Charlie Brown and the gang to life in a way that was unique, different, and real. And among those colorful lives, Linus was perhaps my favorite. And how can you mention Linus without immediately thinking of his blanket. That blue blanket could do amazing things. It could be used as a parachute, pop others when needed, and could even be used as a costume piece as he turned it into a shepherd’s headdress in the famous Charlie Brown Christmas special of 1965. But mainly what Linus’ blanket did was bring him comfort. And when the security of his blanket was taken away, Linus crashed. He would get dizzy and become weak, almost to the point of passing out. The question for you today is, what is your blue blanket in this life? And if God chose to take it away, how would that affect your love, praise, and worship of Him?
In Job chapter 1 we find one of the most dramatic chapters in scripture. We are introduced to Job immediately in verse one. He is blameless, upright before God, greatly fears the Lord, and turns away from all evil. Folks, we should all strive daily to have our lives described as such. Job has been blessed by the Lord with great possessions. With 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 oxen, and a gaggle of servants, he was the Bezos, Musk, and Gates of his day, all wrapped up in one. He was the greatest businessman on the east side of the known world. He also was blessed with many children, 10 in all. And all the kids got along, lived close, and regularly got together to feast and hang out. Job had life by the tail. But of course, you know the story, God and satan have a conversation in the throneroom of heaven and God allows satan to test Job to see if he would indeed curse God if God’s hedge was removed. And satan starts the test by taking everything Job has. Almost as if ripping Linus’ security blanket away, satan starts by seeing what Job would do if all he knew and loved in this world was gone.
Today, how would your relationship with God change if it were all gone? House, cars, cash, big tv’s, great paying job, vacations, cash to frolic, and free time to enjoy it all? Right now, in the U.S. we see a huge income chasm between the rest of the world. Money is easy to come by and as a result, easy to spend. And within this equation we see a lot of security blankets; items, possessions, and material goods that bring untold comfort to the hands that hold them. Comfort that is meant to come from the Lord. If they were all taken away, how would you address God? Would you first cast blame against God? Most would, thinking that somehow God was punishing them by taking away their much-loved blankets. But folks, in two sentences that should rock us to the core, we see how Job, a blameless and upright man, addresses God as everything he had on this planet was taken away in one single hour. “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.” Job worshipped and praised the Lord as the stock market of his life crashed. He did not blame God. Why? His comfort did not lie in his things, it lied in the Lord. He did not curse God for taking his stuff because he knew his stuff wasn’t his anyway, it all belonged to God. And in this instance, one that Job will pursue for the next 41 chapters, he will come to realize that our love for God cannot be bought, purchased, or replaced by anything but God. I pray today that nothing in your life is capable of replacing the pure, perfect love of Christ. If so, be prepared, anything but the everlasting love of Christ can be taken away in this life.
“…nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39
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