Losing Everything
"Also, his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East."
Job 1:3 NKJV
The story of Job begins with a list: seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred pairs of oxen, five hundred donkeys, many servants, and ten sons. This is how the world measures a man—and how, so often, we measure ourselves. If I were to ask you who you are, you’d probably start with a list—you’d tell me about your job, your children, your home, your ministry, and even your health. Job was the greatest of all the people of the East, not because he was the smartest, but because the list of his possessions was longer than anyone else’s. And God knew that. And Satan knew this; that is why, when he asks permission to strike Job, he does not target Job himself, but rather what was on the list. In fact, if we look at what happens in verses 14–19, we can see how he operates. Suddenly, there is a flurry of activity as four messengers arrive, one after another. The narrative moves without pause. While one is speaking, another arrives to take the stage. Job has no time to grieve over the first blow before the second, the third, and the fourth arrive in a crescendo. The first announces: The Sabeans have taken the oxen and donkeys and killed the servants. The second: Fire from heaven has burned the sheep and killed the servants. The third: The Chaldeans have taken the camels and killed the servants. Then the fourth: “A wind from the desert struck the house where your sons were feasting; they are all dead.”
The order is not that of the initial list, which was: sheep, camels, oxen, donkeys, servants, sons. Here, the destruction is: oxen and donkeys, sheep, camels, sons. Satan starts from the periphery and moves toward the center. He starts with the tools of the trade and moves on to the home. He starts with how Job earned his living and moves on to why Job lived. The oxen and donkeys were in the fields. They were tools of daily labor. If you lose them, you have no way to make a living. The seven thousand sheep were his capital, his wealth. Losing them meant economic ruin. The camels represent trade, movement, and prestige. Three thousand camels meant that Job was known, respected, and listened to. To lose them is to no longer be the same in the eyes of others. His children were his home, his legacy, his future—his inheritance. If you lose them, you lose who you are within your own home. Satan did not take them away at random. He unraveled Job’s life thread by thread, first depriving him of what made him feel secure, to eventually reach what made him feel loved. And this is the most painful part of the chapter: God allows the pain to come in succession. Why not all at once? Why four messengers in a row, one after another? I could speculate that the true test isn’t losing everything in one fell swoop, but watching everything shatter piece by piece, and with each piece asking yourself, “Do I still have anything left to hold on to?”
After the first message, Job could have said, “I still have my sheep.” After the second: “I have my camels.” After the third: “I have my children.” By the fourth, he has nothing left; he is left alone, naked before God. And that is where faith is revealed. As long as you have a list to fall back on, you don’t know whether you love God or the possessions on that list. When there is nothing left, you discover whom you truly worship. Job understands this and does something astonishing. He does not despair. He rises, tears his robe, shaves his head, prostrates himself, and says: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (v. 21). “Naked” becomes the key word. Job understands that he was naked before the list, and he remains so even afterward. Let’s not make the opposite mistake, fearing that if something is lost, we lose ourselves. In part, this is true, because the pain is real: Job weeps and tears his robe, but he does not confuse loss with identity. He has lost everything, but he has not lost God. And since he has not lost God, he has not lost himself. Perhaps today you, too, are experiencing a string of bad news. It seems to you that God is dismantling your list. Take heart—you are more than your list; your faith is not in the sheep, the camels, or the oxen. Your faith is in the Shepherd.
Weekly Bible Reading Plan #47
November 16, Ezekiel 3–4; Hebrews 11:20–40
November 17, Ezekiel 5–7; Hebrews 12
November 18, Ezekiel 8–10; Hebrews 13
November 19, Ezekiel 11–13; James 1
November 20, Ezekiel 14–15; James 2
November 21, Ezekiel 16–17; James 3
November 22, Ezekiel 18–19; James 4
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