Honestly, I am not sure what is wrong with me sometimes. I have read the Book of Job many times, but never realized that Satan wanted to break the relationship that Job had with God. Sorry all you Bible scholars for my ignorance. I just thought Job was being tested to see if he would continue trusting God. However, it is more profound than that. If Job lost trust in God, then he might have cursed God as his wife had told him to do and walked away from Him. But Job chose to continue trusting God although he felt God was slaying him. He lost everything – his children, his wealth and even his health. However, God would not let Satan take his life.
Then 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, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.” Job 2:3-6
Please don’t blame me that I didn’t understand that Satan wanted to fracture the Lord’s relationship with Job, because there is a lot going on in this book. The Lord admits that Satan incited Him to destroy Job without a cause. That doesn’t seem so nice to me. How could the Lord do all this to Job just to prove that he would continue fearing Him while remaining blameless and upright in the face of horrible suffering? God’s ways are definitely mysterious. You would think that He hated Job to allow Him to go through all he did. But He didn’t. He seemed to be proud of Job and loved Him very much. And although Job questioned God about all He was enduring, He still held on to God and would not let Him go. Job later repented and had all that He lost restored. I have heard some preachers say that he got “double for His trouble.” He even had people who were not there for him during his challenges going to eat food at his house and consoling him for all he had gone through. I must confess, I am not sure I would let these folks into my house eating my food when they weren’t there for me before. However, as Job was forgiven, he may have chosen to forgive all those who had forgotten him in his time of trouble and reconciled with them.
I probably have to spend some time in repentance for my hard heart and for questioning God like Job did, and also for not forgiving as readily as I should. Job’s repentance came after God outlined to him that He is the mighty Creator in a lengthy dialogue. Being an all-knowing Creator, the Lord limited what Satan could do with Job. God knew that even after his harsh test, Job would stand firm in Him and then He would reward Him. Our reward may not come in this life on earth, but we are promised a much better life in Heaven where there will be fellowship, work and worshipping of the Lord.
After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” Revelations 7:9-10
Satan would have lost the battle and we will be in eternal communion with our God. Satan’s plan from the very beginning would be thwarted when he twisted God’s word into having Eve and then Adam disobey God, which resulted in both of them being kicked out of the Garden of Eden where they had an intimate relationship with the Lord. Thank God for Jesus, the Second Adam, who made their wrong right and restored our relationship with the Lord.
And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight. Colossians 1:21-22
Through Jesus’ death we are now reconciled with God. This is so beautiful. However, Satan is still trying to do to us what He did to Job. He wants to break our relationship with the Lord by devising schemes that would make us disobey the Lord as Adam and Eve did. Satan’s relationship with God has been broken because of his rebellion.
And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Revelations 12:7-9
Satan wants us to rebel against God as he did because he wants us to separate us from God. He knows obedience and love goes together. If we love God, we will obey Him. So, he wants us to disobey God. He may create a lot of problems for us so that we will get angry with God and turn away from Him. Also, he could do a lot of things that seem good to trap us into keeping our focus on everything else, but God. Satan will use any strategy to let us have a broken relationship with God, so we need to be wise to his wiles.
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