At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said:

"Naked I came from my mother's womb,

and naked I will depart.

The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;

may the name of the LORD be praised." Job 1:20,21

A first grade teacher collected well known proverbs. She gave each kid in her class the first half of a proverb, and had them come up with the rest. Here is one example. If You Lie Down With The Dogs, You'll... Stink In The Morning. Wonder what they would have done with "Naked I came from my mother’s womb".

The story of Job is one of the most fascinating in the Bible. Many people get hung up on the Devil being able to bargain with God but doing so misses the main message. You see, Job wasn’t as perfect as he thought or that his friends told him he was. Every person since Adam is a sinner and Job was no exception. God’s Word teaches, "All have sinned" and that includes every person since Adam.

Naked I will leave the world doesn’t necessarily mean without clothing. What it does mean is that we will leave without anything from this world. It is a trip that we make alone and at a time not of our choosing. As Job says, "the Lord gives and the Lord takes away". Life belongs to God for He is Creator of all life. We have not made ourselves.

Life is a gift, precious and wonderful. Each day that we have should be lived with wonder and awe. It should also be lived with the knowledge that we bring nothing into the world and take nothing away. All our labors all our successes, all our fame, all riches and all the other things we spend our days acquiring, having and holding amount to nothing when death claims us.

"May the name of the LORD be praised". Jesus promised that we that believe in Him and accept Him will be received by the Father. Naked we came and naked we depart but for those who have spent their days praising the LORD that will receive more than a hundred-fold what they left behind.

This is the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it.