THE TRIALS OF JOB
(Part 1)
And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Job 1:8 ESV
The Lord asked Satan if he had thought about Job and observed that he was blameless, upright, fears God and turns away from evil.
Satan ought to have replied with a yes or no instead he replied God with a question. What question?
Let’s read verse 9 of Job chapter 1,
Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason?
Have you ever thought about why Satan responded this way?
Satan thought Job’s fear of God wasn’t genuine but hypocritical. He thought Job was living uprightly because of what God gives.
Let’s read verse 10 of Job chapter 1,
Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. Job 1:10 ESV
What was Satan doing in this verse we just read? Satan was listing out the things he felt was the reason behind Job’s fear of God.
Satan was indirectly saying that if not for the blessings of God upon the life of Job, Job wouldn’t have feared God nor lived a upright life.
It could be rightly said that what Satan saw as the reason behinds Job’s fear of God, was the material blessings in his life.
Let’s read verse 11 of Job chapter 1,
But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”
Job 1:11 ESV
Do you notice that Satan kept emphasizing on the material blessings Job had?
Satan feels man can’t serve God without any strings attached. He feels we are committed to God because of what we want to get from Him.
Take note of this statement in verse 11 of Job chapter 1, “stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face”.
Satan always tries to use the trials or suffering we go through as an occasion to make us doubt God and turn our backs on God.
Most of the people today who say God doesn’t exist at one time believed in God but something tragic happened in their lives or to their loved ones or to what they owned and they felt God being all powerful could have been able to prevent it but He didn’t.
It’s not that they don’t truly believe that God exists, they are just mad and angry at God.
They stopped believing in God and turned their backs on Him because they felt God failed and abandoned them.
Since Satan thought the material blessings were the reason behind Job’s fear of God, he was so confident that if God should take away the blessings, Job will curse and turn his back on God.
What Satan didn’t know was that Job wasn’t fearing God and living uprightly because what God gives but because of who God is.
“He is our Father”.
Destruction came upon Job’s family and all his possessions when you read from verses 13 to 19 of Job chapter 1.
What was the response of Job to the calamity that had befallen his family and possessions?
Did Job curse and turn his back on God as Satan expected?
Let’s read verses 20 through 22 of Job chapter 1,
Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 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.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.
We are made to know from the scriptures that Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head and fell to the ground and worshiped?
Worshiped who? Job worshiped God and blessed the name of God.
In Psalm chapter 34 verse 1, David said
I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
We are not to only praise God in the good times, we are to also praise Him in the bad times.
Satan was expecting Job to curse God and backside but he got the shock of his life – he got an unexpected response.
“Job worshiped and blessed God.”
The response and attitude of Job showed that his fear of God and uprightness wasn’t as a result of the blessings of God in his life but who He knew God to be.
Yes He did complain especially when his friends were accusing him of sin and he even asked many questions but He remained faithful to God and never turned his back on God.
In the midst of all that happened Job didn’t sin nor charge God with wrong.
I don’t know what trial or suffering you are currently going through, but let the attitude of Job be our attitude.
In whatever trial or suffering you are currently going through, remain faithful to God, praise Him and keep enduring.
Don’t serve God for what He gives but for who He is.
“He is our Father”.
It is well…
