Job had an exceptionally good life. But he had two exceptionally bad days. The first of these bad days is described in Job 1:13-19.
Job 1:13-19 Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and there came a messenger to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
Job had a lot. And in a single bad day Job lost all he had. He lost his possessions, servants, and source of income. Then, in the same bad day Job lost his children, all three girls and seven boys. That was a bad day! In response to all that loss Job did not sin (v.22). On the second of these two bad days, job lost his health.
Job 2:7-8 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.
Again, Job did not let the huge loss ruin him (v.10). He hurt but he was not defeated. In all his loss he didn’t lose his integrity or his faith in God.
The fear of loss is a powerful force. What have you lost in the past year? Think about it… It has been a year of loss.
In 2020, Delta Airlines lost 12 billion dollars and Twitter lost 1.4 billion. We lost public figures like basketball star Kobe Bryant, actor Sean Connery, game show host Alex Trebek, Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias, and music legend Little Richard. We lost the opportunity to participate in live events, festivals, fairs, the General Conference Session, and in-person worship services.
In our personal lives we have lost loved ones, paychecks, jobs, family time, vacation, birthday celebrations, eating out, physical touch, potluck, social connection and the discipline of getting dressed for the day.
What have you lost in the past year? What do you fear losing in the year to come?
Loss is real and it is scary! It can be devastating, and we can let it defeat us! In Job, we see someone who lost nearly everything and was not defeated. His loss was intense, yet he did not curse God or lose hope. He couldn’t stop the loss but he did lose well! How can we lose well? How can we lose and not let the loss or the fear of loss destroy our lives? With God, we can lose everything else and still win!
Job endured loss like a winner. In his story we see at least 5 ways to lose like a winner!
#1 We can lose like a winner when we make God our treasure!
Before both bad days God asked Satan this question, “Have you considered my servant Job?” (1:8; 2:3). Considered him for what? It appears we are listening in on one part of a larger conversations. I imagine it like a conversation you might hear at a car dealership. The customer has certain specification they are looking for in a car and they have surveyed the whole lot but can’t find what they are looking for. The salesman might say, “Have you considered the Rav4?”. The salesman knows what the customer is looking for and thinks the Rav4 fits the specification.
Satan is looking for something specific and he claims he can’t find it. Then God says, “Have you considered my servant Job?”, as if to say, “he fits the description of the thing you claim you can’t find.” What is it that Satan can’t find? We get a clue when God says, “there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”(v.8). He is looking for someone who follows God. Satan reveals more of what he is looking for when he says, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land (v.9-10). Not only is he looking for someone who follows God but for someone who follows out of freewill. He claims that he can’t find anyone who loves God for who God is, not just what he gives. Satan accuses God of buying Job’s love. Satan asks, “Does Job fear you for no reason?”, as if there is no good reason to follow God unless it is for the things he gives. What does that say about the value of God? It says that his beauty and love and kindness are no reason to follow him. Satan claims that if the things were taken away Job would curse God. God and Satan continue the conversation in chapter 2:4-5, “He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason. Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.”
God and Satan were engaged in an ongoing debate, a great controversy, about the character of God. Is he really love? Does he offer freedom for us to freely love him back? Satan argues that Job doesn’t count because he had been manipulated to follow with God’s blessings. God suggest that they take the blessings away and find out if Job still follows. This is a risky, vulnerable proposal. Our free will decision to love God must be a big deal to the rest of the universe!
If God is our treasure we will be that person Satan was looking for and couldn’t find. If God is our treasure, we can lose everything else and still win. Do you love because God has built a hedge around you? If he struck all you have would you curse him? Is he your treasure? Is he enough without his blessings? If we love God like that, loss of other things won’t defeat us. The fear of loss is a distraction from what matters most. Because what matters most can’t be lost. Fear of loss is amplified when we make other things our treasure.
#2 We can lose like a winner when we worship God in loss!
In response to Job’s first bad day he did something expected. He mourned and showed a strong display of emotion.
Job 1:20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head…
But then he did something unexpected. He “fell on the ground and worshiped.” (v.20).
He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (v.21).
God is worthy of worship not because of what he gives but because of who he is. So when the gift is gone, his worth is unchanged. Worship reminds us of what matters most. Worship points us to our God who is rock solid in our times of loss.
When you are afraid of losing your job worship God as your security.
When you are afraid of losing a relationship worship God as your faithful friend.
When you are afraid of losing your health worship God as you’re the one whose strength is made perfect in weakness.
When you are afraid of losing your life or the lives of your loved ones worship God as the resurrection and the life.
#3 We can lose like a winner when we remember our nakedness!
As Job processed his loss he remembered something helpful, he was born naked.
Job 2:21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return.”
It is not always helpful to think of yourself naked. But the naked perspective can be helpful with the fear of loss. When we were born we didn’t have stuff, not even clothes. When we die we no longer need them. We didn’t arrive with all that stuff and we don’t get to take it when we leave.
Joseph Stalin imprisoned 18 million people in Soviet Union forced labor camps. The conditions were brutal, the work hours were long, the weather was harsh, and the food portions were small. How did they prevent the laborers from quitting? They used multiple evil strategies. One of these was to allow each prisoner to keep one personal item of their choice. The fear of losing that one possession was enough to secure their compliance. Possessions have a powerful hold on us. The fear of losing them can keep us in compliance to some terrible things.
We get so attached to stuff. Remember that every acorn gathered is another acorn that the squirrel has to fear losing.
There are things that do matter at birth and death, but you know what doesn’t? Your credit score, the value of your car, your hourly pay, your job security, or how many sheep and camels or dollars you have. We can lose these things like a winner when we remember our nakedness.
#4 We can lose like a winner when we remember Trust the Giver!
Job 1:21 “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
God is a giver. Job saw his stuff taken away but that did not change the truth that God is a giver and we can trust him.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave… God has expressed his love by giving!
We don’t love God only for what he gives but we do certainly love his gifts. And we can trust the giver to give us what we need. If he doesn’t give it, we didn’t need it.
The book of Job concludes with God giving to Job.
Job 42:10 And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.
God gave him another 140 years of life to enjoy all the good things he received from God.
Mark 10:29-30 Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.
If you are struggling with the fear of lose, reassure yourself that God is an unstoppably good giver. When we trust the giver we can lose like a winner!
#5 We can lose like a winner when we remember when we accept the bad!
When Job’s wife suggested that he just curse God and dies he responded, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil? (Job 2:9).
Job gladly accepted the good things in his life. And he learned to patiently accept the bad.
Job wasn’t aware of the full story. He thought God caused the evil and took the good things away. God has and can take away but in this story it was Satan who did all the taking. Satan could only do it with permission from God. If he allows it to be taken then you will be alright. We can deal with loss knowing that God is not out of control. Loss is just part of our experience. We lose our hair, our health, our relationships, our loved ones and our own lives. We don’t need to like it but we do need to accept it. If we fight loss on this earth we will have a never ending battle. Loss aversion will drive us crazy in a world of loss.
If we are going to lose like a winner there comes a point when we need to accept the bad (for now).
With God, we can lose everything else and still win!
Apply these 5 ways to lose like a winner to your loss and your fear of it.
Fanny Crosby learned to lose like a winner. We know Fanny Crosby for the many beautiful hymns she composed (8000). Her life was greatly impacted by the fear of loss. Fanny lost her eyesight when she was six weeks old. The doctor tried to cure an eye infection by putting hot poultices on her eyes. The treatment blinded her. Shortly after she lost her father. She had a good childhood with her mother and grandmother. They sent her to study at the New York Institute for the Blind. After 8 years as a student she joined the faculty. She gained much attention for herself and the Institute because of her talent for writing poetry. She wrote and recited her poems before powerful and famous people. Consequently, she also became incredibly busy in an attempt to keep up the opportunities that her talent brought her. She was so driven to produce that her doctor told her that she would die if she didn’t rest.
In 1849 New York was overwhelmed by a Cholera outbreak. COVID19 has been disruptive, Cholera is devastating. It is a terrible disease. The only sound heard in the disserted streets was the horses hooves on the stone as they pulled what they called the death wagon. Fanny, always busy, chose to stay in New York and care for the sick. She cared for students as they lost their lives to Cholera. Eventually, she got the symptoms. She hid it from her doctor. She began taking large doses of the pills that she had helped to produce for the sick. When her doctor noticed the symptoms he accused her of misplaced heroism. That is when she confessed. Heroism was not where all her activity was coming from. She was afraid of death. Her response to her fear of loss was to go into denial and distract herself with a high level of production. Behind all that she was terrified of dying. She believed in God but she had no assurance. Her life was dominated by the fear of loss.
Fanny played the organ for church. She would see people respond to the appeals and it seemed they found assurance and she could find none. Once she came to the alter, after playing Alas and Did my Savior Bleed by Isaac Watts. She cried to God about her lack of assurance. She remembered the line of the 4th stanza, “But drops of grief can ne’er repay, The debt of love I owe: Here, Lord, I give myself away, ’Tis all that I can do.” Then she saw that she must give herself away. All that she was afraid to lose was to be lost to Jesus. She realized she was left with only Jesus. When she was willing to give it all up, she lost her fear of loss and it was replaced with assurance in Jesus. It changed everything in her life. From this liberating truth came the words “blessed assurance, Jesus is mine”. If Jesus is mine, I don’t need everything else! Instead of the fear of loss she was able to say that she was “filled with his goodness, lost in his love”.
With God we can lose everything else and still win!