There is a song out there that called "Blessed Be Your Name" which uses Job 1:21 in its lyrics. This one Scripture has confused more Christians I believe than any other Scripture ever read. Job 1:21 states: "And (Job) said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."
The last half of this Scripture is used a lot at funerals. You might hear a preacher say, "He was a good man, but the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." I want to go on record here as saying that those who use this Scripture in this way are ignorant of Scripture. While saying this may actually make people feel good, although I don't know why, it kind of says that God has taken their loved one from them...and sorry, but that doesn't make God look good in my opinion.
What I wish people would do is read a little bit before that Scripture say like in verse 12 which says, "And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself (Job) put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD."
This Scripture pretty much tells you who it was that afflicted Job. It was the devil, not God.
When Job made the statement in verse 21, he thought that God was the one who had caused the calamity in his life. This is a thought that is very prevalent in the minds of Christians today. Our enemy (the devil) is very crafty at keeping himself out of the lime light. If you read John 10:10; you will see who it is that kills, steals and destroys. It is not God, He is trying to give you life and life to the full. Using John 10:10 to interpret Job 1:21 you can easily see who it is that caused the devastation in Job's life.
It's like this, we have an enemy. His name is the devil, and he is trying to kill, steal and destroy our lives, and he uses lies to do so. See if you take the devil out of the equation, then that only leaves two people to blame when things go wrong; you and God. That's what was happening in the story of Job.
The devil will oppose us, and he's done here exactly what he was trying to do to Jesus in the wilderness, pervert Scripture to get Him off track. The devil knows that the Word of God in us, coming out of our mouths will defeat him every time, so what he does is gets us to use Scripture in the wrong way...then it won't hurt him.
I'll close with this; God is good and the devil is bad plain and simple. It's not rocket science, it's really that simple. Use John 10:10 as your guideline when things happen in your life and you will recognize when it is the enemy messing with you. Don't blame God for taking people out of your lives, He only took Enoch, Elijah and Jesus and them He took them alive. God has only good for you, if you doubt that then take a look at Jeremiah 29:11.
Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King.
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