Triumph

Job 1:21

New Living Translation (NLT)

²¹ He said,
   “I came naked from my mother’s womb,
      and I will be naked when I leave.
   The Lord gave me what I had,
      and the Lord has taken it away.
   Praise the name of the Lord!”

Triumph over tragedy.  These kinds of stories are always so inspiring.  The tale of someone who has overcome a tragic or adverse situation.  For most of us, we are in awe at the enduring human will and ability to rise above extreme situations.

Job is the Bible example of this story.  I'm sure he had no idea what had just hit him.  His entire world was turned upside down and then trampled all over.  Then the one person you would've thought he could count on, told him to give up and die!  To her, that evidently seemed a better alternative than the hell he was experiencing.  (An interesting thing to point out here is that Job evidently assumed that God was the one responsible for the tragedy of his life.)

Anyway, Job was a good person.  He believed in God.  He lived his life the best he knew how.  He hadn't done anything to deserve the tragedy that had become his life.  Does this sound familiar to anyone? 

Now, I don't know anyone, including myself, who has had it as bad as Job.  Certainly, I have never had everything I owned taken away.  I have never been bereft of family or support of friends.  So, isn't it rather interesting when we might run into a hard situation or circumstance, we start to question God?  And inform Him of how good we are.  How we believe in Him and we are doing the best we can.  And we don't deserve this situation! 

I kind of smile sheepishly to myself as I think how easy we have things and yet find something to complain about.  (Come on...I know I'm not alone here!)  I can't help but be reminded of Job and his story of triumph.  The triumph wasn't because his family rescued him or he found the just the right situation or person or thing or church.  Nope, he triumphed because he when he found himself at his lowest point, he did what he knew to do.  He worshipped the Creator.  He had found that place of worship that excluded everything else in his life. 

I know I still have a long way to go.  But I want to find that same place of worship.  Where even my little circumstances and situations are secondary to the worship He deserves.