Job 1:21b
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.

If you're as honest as I am, then you will easily admit that there are some parts of the Bible that you'd be okay without. For me, this is one of those parts. I would love to take out a razor or an xacto knife, do a little editing and turn this verse into "the Lord gave; may the name of the Lord be praised." How easy it is to praise God when He's giving. How quickly the words "thank you" can roll of the tongue when we have received. But 6 little words change everything and pose the obvious question: how can anyone praise the Lord when He takes away? I've got an idea...

Most of us equate the word "praise" with the word "thanks" and that causes a good bit of confusion with our verse. I mean, who in their right mind would actually thank God for taking something away, especially if it was something valuable. We praise God when things are going well in our lives because that is an obvious time to praise and be thankful. But what about those "middle of the verse" times when we have experienced loss? We can still praise because the word praise isn't about thankfulness. It is a much deeper response to who God is, not to what God does.

The word for praise is from the Hebrew word meaning "to kneel" and it fills in the color on what could be a bleak verse. Job has lost it all and realizes that God is bigger than this life. God is bigger than the biggest things we can face in this world. And Job's response to the awesomeness of God was to fall on his knees and praise. Ours should be the same.

In good times and bad, in plenty and in need, in joy and in grief, I choose to kneel before my God and praise because He is greater than all the things that come and go in my life.

Thanksgiving is good.

But thankspraising is better.