When we were born, we came forth from the womb, grabbing life. Doctors call it Palmar’s Grasp, a newborn’s instinctive reflex to make a fist. Though ironically, at the moment of death, we experience the opposite; our hand is opened and at ease.

The Old Testament character Job must have observed this reality. At a time of indescribable grief, he said, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD (Job 1:21). He made this declaration having experienced the ruin of his fortune, family, and, ultimately, his health.

Job admitted in his suffering that once his life had passed through the refiner’s fire, he would come forth as gold (Job 23:10). And that is the point of Job’s story. It is not a tale about loss, but the truth about living with a loosened hand, trusting God.

Too often, we choke the things we love by grasping too tightly. Or far worse, forfeit the better blessings God has for us by refusing to let go of what we hold now. This revelation was fully understood by Job when God restored him in chapter 42.

Undoubtedly, Job applied this truth to his remaining 140 years. The older Job grew, he released his grip on the things that were never his in the first place. In doing so, Job appreciated more each gift and borrowed blessing the Lord had favored upon him.

And so must we.

As Christians, at our first birth, we were born with clenched fists holding onto nothing. But because of our second birth, we can die with relaxed hands receiving everything. The earthly cannot grip the eternal; we only accept it.

May we live with eternity in perspective by loosening our grasp today and gladly welcoming what God grants tomorrow. Saying, “Blessed be the name of the Lord!”