Daily Lectionary: Job 1:1-22; John 1:1-18

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Job certainly endured more than his share of pain and grief in his life. Yet through it all Job never blamed chance or fate, the devil or evil people, Mother Nature, or even himself and his own sin. No. Job received it all as from the hand of Jesus. That’s what Job means when he says, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” God says, “In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.”

Job repeats his confidence in chapter 2: “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” Again, God says, “In all this Job did not sin with his lips” (Job 2:10). Rest assured, then, there is no sin in daring to trust in Jesus like that.

“Oh that my words were written!” Job cries out in chapter 19. “Oh that they were inscribed in a book!  Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever! For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!” (Job 19:23-27)

Job trusted everything about Jesus. He trusted that whatever his sins had earned from God would be forever answered for, paid for, by Jesus’ death for him upon the Cross. He could live every day in the confidence that Jesus, his Redeemer, was in complete control. He could receive everything as coming from The Hand that was now forever holding on to him. So, he did.

You, too. For all that your sin deserves Jesus also paid for with His death for you upon the Cross. And with the promise of the Cross now in His Word, in His water, and at His Supper, Jesus is promising you that He means you no harm in anything He allows or sends. He’s got this. He’s got you. And, as with Job, Jesus promises to never let go. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

What God ordains is always good; His loving thought attends me; No poison can be in the cup That my physician sends me. My God is true; Each morning new I trust His grace unending, My life to Him commending. (“What God Ordains is Always Good” LSB 760, st.3)

-Rev. Bradley Drew is pastor of Mount Olive Lutheran Church in Metairie, LA.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Duane Bamsch

Pastor-psychiatrist duo Rev. A. Trevor Sutton and Dr. Brian Smith have teamed up to help you evaluate your technology use through a Christian perspective. Learn how to form healthy, faithful technology habits with Jesus at the center. Now available from Concordia Publishing House.