Grace Classics: Escape to Reality Greatest Hits, Volume 2 Read Online Free PDF Page B

believing that God is responsible for their loss.
    Now
don’t get me wrong—I love Job’s attitude. He’s saying that whatever happens in
life, he’s going to praise the name of the Lord. But Job still said some dumb
things about God. By his own admission he spoke of things he did not understand
(see Job 42:3).
    But the
question stands: Does God give and take away?
    Any
picture we have of God needs to be informed by Jesus Christ. Jesus is the
“radiance of God’s glory, the exact representation of his being” (Hebrews 1:3).
To get a good understanding of God’s character, we need to look to Jesus, not
Job. Can you imagine Jesus stealing or killing? Of course not. So how is it
that some people think that God was responsible for Job’s loss?
    “But
Paul, it’s in the Bible, it’s right there in black and white—‘the Lord gave and
the Lord has taken away’.” Let me put it to you like this. If you want the best
insight into God’s character, are you better off looking at Jesus, who said
“anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9), or Job, who by his
own admission, did not really know him (see Job 42:5)? It seems obvious that
Jesus is the better choice.
    Jesus
came to reveal God the great giver (see John 3:16). Have you been given
something good? Then see God as your source. He gave it to you:
     
    Every
good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the
heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1:17)
     
    But what if you have suffered
loss, like Job? He lost his health, his wealth, and his family. The temptation
may be to blame God for your loss, as if God had a change of heart. But God is
not fickle. He does not change like shifting shadows. He is an extraordinary
giver who never takes back his gifts.
     
    God’s
gifts and God’s call are under full warranty—never canceled, never rescinded.
(Romans 11:29, MSG)
     
    So if God is doing the giving, who
is doing the taking? Jesus tells us:
     
    The
thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have
life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10)
     
    We ought not to be confused about
these two different roles. One is a giver, the other is a taker. If you have
been given something good, then give thanks to God. But if you’ve been robbed,
don’t blame God. He is not behind your loss.
    Humans can
be spectacularly slow learners. From the beginning of history the devil has
been trying to steal or ruin everything God has ever given us and yet there are
still some who think that God is the thief! God gave us authority over a planet
and the devil took it. God gave us freedom and the devil somehow got us to swap
that for slavery. God gave us eternal life, health and glory, and we lost it
all. But thank God for Jesus who took back what the devil stole!
    Jesus
came to reveal a generous Father and to destroy the work of the thief (1 John
3:8). Jesus came that we might have life to the full, not to the half.
    If you
think that God gives and takes away, then you have more faith in karma than
grace. Karma says that what goes around comes around. If you’re healthy now,
you’ll be sick tomorrow. If you’re prospering now, poverty’s waiting around the
next corner. Trust in karma and you won’t be surprised when disappointments and
hardships come. You’ll just throw in the towel and say, “I knew it was too good
to last.”
    The
world works according to the principle of give and take, but God just gives.
The only thing he’ll take off you—if you let him—is your sin, your shame, your
sickness, your worries and your fears. He takes away those things that harm us
and only gives us good things that bless us.
     
    Are you a Job or a David?
     
    Like Job, David was also robbed
(see 1 Samuel 30:1–5). And like Job, David was greatly distressed and
surrounded by faithless friends with bad advice. But unlike Job, David did a
Jesusy-thing and took back what was stolen.
    Why did
David