The Presence of God Better than a Beautiful House

Job 1:21 The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.

We have just put our house up for sale. The real estate agent is walking through measuring each room for her flyers as I type this. It's a difficult day for us. We have loved this house. It is more than we ever imagined we would have.

And that is the key to winning any internal struggles we may have. This house was an unsought gift. We even struggled to accept it as a token of the extravagant grace of God simply because it was so much more than anything we've ever expected. Yet, we were persuaded that God intended us to have this house, and we bought it. We have always acknowledged it as purely a gift from God.

Now, though we never wanted anything like this in the first place, it's difficult to let it go, and, once again, we need to argue with ourselves. (The first mark of sanity is talking to yourself.) The argument is obvious. God has not changed. If He was gracious in giving, He is gracious in taking. It is far better to love the Giver than the gift. It is a good thing to let go our earthly treasures; it demonstrates that a heavenly treasure is far more precious. It is absurd to seek to hold onto what we cannot keep.

All of these arguments are true. However, they are not sufficient in themselves to suppress the struggle. I know what would. I have had, in the past, such a sense of the intimate presence of God that nothing else matters. I have "seen" the glory of Christ. I have known the love of God. Even the memory of it is enough to compel me to seek a change. I pray that Asaph's confession would be mine, "But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works." (Psalm 73:28) Or, David's, "You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy." (Psalm 16:11)

May He give us a sense of His presence! But even if He doesn't, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."