Standing by the freshly dug grave, I watched as a heavy-hearted couple made their way up the steep hill. The father served as the lone pallbearer. Only one person was needed to carry the small casket holding the body of his infant son. He placed the casket on the nylon straps that would lower it into the grave. What do you say to parents who have lost a child? I remember only hugs and tears as we waited for the rest of the family to gather on the windy hillside.

I said a few words that, to me, seemed so inadequate. A relative also spoke, and I was thankful for his personal and comforting remarks. Then the father spoke. His words were emotional but strong and right from Scripture. Over the sound of the wind blowing through the nearby trees, he said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Those words were first spoken by a man who was reeling from the pain of loss. He had just received the unimaginable news that all his resources were gone, and his ten children had been killed in a great windstorm. Here’s how Job responded.

Job 1:20-22
Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And 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.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.

Here in this statement, first uttered by Job after his tragic loss, are words declaring the sovereignty of God and man’s only proper response. With broken hearts, tearful eyes, and quivering lips, we acknowledge that God is the giver of our first breath, and he alone determines our last. And even through our pain, we declare his praise. We’ll continue with Job’s story next time, but for now, let’s reflect on this hard but essential truth.

Father, I thank you for the example of that young father on the hillside who declared your sovereignty before the body of his infant son. O God, when we stand in brokenness and pain, may we, too, declare your praise. For Christ’s sake. Amen.