Praising in a Grave Situation

I'm smack dab in the middle of a devastatingly busy week. I could bore everyone with all the details, but take my word for it, I'm barely keeping afloat at the moment. As I was trying to organize my life and carefully plan how I needed to spend each and every hour in order to accomplish all that must be done... I received a text.

It seems one of my closest friends, Sheila Key, is losing her mother. Yesterday, Sheila and Buzz Key were enjoying their first day of a week-long family vacation when they received the call: Sheila's mother had had massive strokes on both sides of her brain. Today, the very hour I type this, they will remove her from life-support. As I talked on the phone with Buzz, my heart was broken,... because my friends were hurting.

So, I decided to take a few moments, turn the lights down low in my office, hold all calls, and read a bit of the Word.

Amazingly,... I opened to the following verse:

Job 1:21
"He said, 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.'"

Whenever I turn to read a passage from the Old Testament Book of Job, I realize a few things: First, I remember that I was taught somewhere along the line that this is the 'oldest' Book in the entire Bible. In other words, many Bible scholars believe that it was actually written even before Moses penned Genesis. I also recall that there is much debate whether or not this Book actually happened at all, or if is simply an ancient play that was performed before numerous audiences. I won't even touch that, except to say that the Book of Job IS in our Bibles and that is significant to me. It is meaningful to me because it means that God wanted us to have, study, and apply this story to our stories. It is also interesting to me to think that many of the great Bible heroes would have probably heard or read this story many times in their own lives.

I wonder if when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow to the king's idol and they said those awesome and famous words, "Our God can deliver us from the fire, but even if He doesn't, we will not bow!" (Daniel 3:17-18*), I wonder if the story of Job and that fantastic verse quoted above (Job 1:21) resounded in their hearts and minds?

Oh, how I long to be that kind of radical. That I'd be the kind of person that praises the name of the Lord in the good times... and the bad. That I'd recognize that every good gift I enjoy is ultimately from the Lord, and when anything... or anyone... is separated from me I should not murmur or complain, but rather bless the name of the Lord anyway.

I find it ironic how my problems, and my feelings of being overwhelmed, can seem so difficult at times, and then in a mere instant, literally the time it takes to read a simple text, they can seem to be put into perspective.

I'm learning, however slowly, that my story is fairly simple, and although it seems to be 'everything' to me at any given moment, in reality, it is only a tiny part of a greater story: God's story. God's story is filled with all kinds of adventures as well as mundane moments, joys and disappointments, victories and beatings, births and even deaths. Yet, it is the radical that chooses to bless the name that is above all the other names that have ever been spoken - the name of Jesus.

May you and I bless the name of Jesus: When we're hurting. When we're rejoicing. When we're tired. When we're burned out. When we're sad. When we're left without answers. Truly, there is no other name under all of Heaven greater and by which men might be saved!


* By the way... if you've never read the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego you are totally missing out. You've GOTTA read it! It's absolutely one of my very favorites! You'll find it in the Old Testament Book of Daniel, chapter 3.
Read it by clicking here.