It's time to let go...

Out of all the characters in the bible, the person I admired the most is Job. He was an amazing man; the bible described him as a blameless and upright man, one who feared God and turned away from evil. Job went through a lot of hardship in life; in one day, he lost all his wealth and his kids. When he received the news, he fell onto his knees 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." Job 1:21

Now that's a lot of faith. How many of us can truthfully say that when we lose something or someone so important to us, our first reaction is to praise God? I think for the most of us, our first reaction is blaming God and questioning God why He allowed it to happen to us? But Job is different, he praised God and he understood that everything he had came from God. Even when he was in terrible health, and his family and friends laughed at him, he never once blamed God. Truthfully, I can't say I would have done the same if I was in Job's situation. We've all had the experience of accusing God of being unfair. We question why God take away the things or people we care about, why it happens to us and not other people. We sometimes secretly think that other people deserve the pain more. It's time for us to learn from Job, we need to praise Him not just for what He has given us, but also for what He has taken away. This may be hard to do, but we can trust in His promise.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope" Jeremiah 29:11

The other amazing thing that Job did that I admire is that when God took away something, he immediately let go. I'm sure the things Job lost was painful for him, but he wasn't fixated on what he has lost, instead, he was looking forward to what's coming. In the end, God blessed him with even more. This is something I'm learning. For me, I'm still holding onto what I've lost. God reminded me that by holding on to what I've lost, my hands are not open to receive what He has in stored for me. Even when God is trying to give me something better, my hands are full from holding onto the old things. We often think what we had the was the best thing for us, but the truth is, if God took it away, He often had something better planned. So it's time for us to let go our own expectations, reach our hands toward God, and receive what He wants to give us.

"...and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new. I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you." Leviticus 26:10-11