“A God Thing”

Have you ever noticed that when good things happen to good people, and bad things happen to bad people, we tend to say with confidence that “It was a ‘God’ thing?” But when good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people or even when tragedies like the Haitian earthquake strike, we are at a loss for words? How can God let this happen? Why do the rich seem to grow richer while the poor become poorer, despite the best intentions of socialist policies, charity and social justice?


Words cannot express the loss that we feel at the death of a loved one or a major setback in life. The most powerful comfort often comes from those who have experienced similar losses in their lives.

The story of Job in the Bible is an amazing testimony of one man’s faithfulness in the midst of ultimate loss. He was a righteous man before God, but he was the unwitting subject of a contest of sorts between God and Satan. Job was a wealthy husband and father with ten grown children. In a very short time, his children were all killed and his wealth and health were taken from him. All he had left were his unsupportive wife and “friends” who came not to comfort him but to try to get him to confess some sin that they assumed was the reason for Job’s misfortune.

Despite his dire circumstances, Job refused to curse God, but rather spoke with amazing clarity his philosophy about God’s sovereignty,

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” And again, “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” (Job 1:21; 2:10b)

When we hear of people who have experienced similar loss, they often express one of two perspectives. Either they mourn that “all is lost; life is over” or that “it was all just stuff and we are thankful to still be alive.” As much as we would like to think that we are in control of our “stuff,” we are truly just one earthquake, fire or flood away from utter devastation. What would you say if that happened to you? If you trust in this sovereign God and remember daily that He has provided everything you have, the answer will be clear.