Episode Transcript  

One

The Exemplarity of Job

G.K. Chesterton once expressed amazement that the Israelites of the ancient world had managed to keep the book of Job to themselves. It was as if, he said, the ancient Egyptians had somehow managed to keep the pyramids hidden and secret. Because surely, the book of Job, in which the great mystery of divine providence and human suffering is explored so profoundly, is a much greater cultural achievement than an impressive architectural feat.  

Just look at how perfectly Job shows us what abandonment to divine providence looks like. Remember the scene: Job is told, in rapid succession, that he has just lost everything. All his livestock, all his servants, and then, most tragically, his very children, without any warning, all of them are dead, everything and everyone is gone. 

What does Job say? Just this, “Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall go back again. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Nothing has befallen here except what the Lord willed. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Each of those amazing sentences is absolutely packed with spiritual significance. If we really meditate on those words, we will understand the abandonment to divine providence that is at the heart of the Christian life. 

Two

The Lord Gave, and the Lord Has Taken Away

In the second chapter of Job, Job’s wife urges him to curse God and die in his misfortune. Job reproves her and says, “We accepted good things from God’s hands, shall we not accept bad things?” And earlier, he says, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away.”

What does that mean? It means that our standard for what we are willing to accept, what we are willing to endure, should not be whether we like something or not. It’s whether God gave it to us. 

Love treasures a gift not for what it is, but for who gives it. What counts most is the love of the giver, not the gift itself. If a girl really wants a guy to ask her out, she won’t care which restaurant he picks. If a mom loves her child, she’ll be touched by any homemade gift, a picture, a drawing, or a clay figure. What matters is the love behind it.

And the amazing thing about God is this: everything that happens is a gift from Him, the things He gives are gifts, and, paradoxically, the things he takes away are gifts. And in each case, it’s an act of love. And we receive it gratefully because it comes from His hands.

Three

Nothing has Befallen Here Except what the Lord Willed

Picture this scene: Job has prostrated himself in his grief. He lies face down upon the ground, the same ground where his animals have been stolen, his servants murdered, his children crushed to death. And with his face in the dirt, utterly ruined, Job says, “Nothing has befallen here except what the Lord willed.”

Job retains his peace and his hope because he knows that nothing can happen except what God wills or allows for our greater good. Do we believe that? Do we believe that all the disasters of history, all the disasters in the world, in society, in our lives, in our families, none of that happened without God’s permission? 

It was Satan who directly devastated Job’s life, just like it is Satan who is ultimately at work in the sins and tragedies of all human existence. But it is God who allows Satan to work his mischief in our homes and in our hearts. And God allows it for our greater good. That we might show heroism. That we might show love and devotion to God. And that we might be humbled and purified and prepared, as we must be, for the greater happiness that awaits us.

We know that in everything God works for good for those who love him. Romans 8:28

Four

Naked I came Forth; Naked I shall return

Job says, “Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return.”

That’s absolutely right. We came into this world with nothing, and when we die, we’ll take nothing with us. 

We can’t. Our souls must go where our bodies can’t, at least not yet. We’re going to a place for which our imaginations and even our ideas can’t prepare us. As we were naked for our birth into this world, so we must be stripped of things of this world for our birth into Heaven. When God detaches us from things of this world, it’s not necessarily a punishment; it’s preparation for the greatest gift He has to offer: Himself.

Which is why even when the Lord takes away, it is to give. Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Five

Blessed Be the Name of the Lord

Job ends his speech of surrender to God’s providence with the words, “Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

St. John of Avila famously said, “A single ‘Blessed be God’ in times of adversity is worth more than a thousand acts of thanksgiving in times of prosperity.” Why? Because while it’s good to be grateful for God’s worldly blessings, it can still be that even as we’re thanking God for his gifts, we prefer the gift to the giver. But in times of adversity, in times of trial, God is preparing us to receive Him. So if we can trust in Him and bless His name, it means that we definitely prefer Him to any of the worldly things He can give us. 

To say “Blessed be God,” in times of adversity, means, “I want you Lord ,more than any other good thing.”

Lord, let us all imitate Job in accepting whatever happens as Your will, and so drawing ever closer to that perfect happiness that can only consist in intimacy with You. Amen.    

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