SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 10/22/2011 9:47:12 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: “Job’s Adversity”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Job
1:6-19
Message
of the verses: “6 Now there was a day when the
sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came
among them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, "From where do you come?" Then
Satan answered the LORD and said, "From roaming about on the earth and
walking around on it." 8 The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered
My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and
upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil." 9 Then Satan
answered the LORD, "Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 “Have You not made a
hedge about 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. 11
“But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You
to Your face." 12 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he
has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him." So Satan
departed from the presence of the LORD.
‘13 Now on the day when his sons and his
daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 14 a
messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys
feeding beside them, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and took them. They also slew
the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell
you." 16 While he was still speaking, another also came and said,
"The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants
and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you." 17 While he was
still speaking, another also came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three
bands and made a raid on the camels and took them and slew the servants with
the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you." 18 While he
was still speaking, another also came and said, "Your sons and your
daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 19 and
behold, a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four
corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they died, and I
alone have escaped to tell you.’”
In the account above we see that Job
has lost all of his material blessings along with all of his children in one
day. It is because the author of Job has
taken us into the throne room of God that we know why all of this happened to
Job, but think if we had not known why all of this happened wouldn’t we tend to
be like Job’s friends and think that all of this happened because Job had
sinned against the Lord is some large way.
I suppose that all of the times that I have read the book of Job that
this throught had never crossed my mind, for I always looked at the story as it
was told and therefore I was always upset with his friends, yet perhaps I would
have done the same thing if I did not realize the whole story behind the story. Job knew what had happened to him, but he did
not know why all of this happened to him.
The first thing we can learn from
this is that God is sovereign in all things.
We know from different Scriptures that God is on His throne and so He is
the One who is in control. Not even
Satan can do anything to God’s people without God’s permission. The writer of Job wants his readers to
clearly understand that God is in control.
I don’t know if this second truth
will surprise you at all, but we see in the passage above that Satan can come
into the presence of God. I don’t
remember who it was, but a long time ago I heard a speaker talking about the
destruction of heaven and earth that is found in the latter part of Revelations,
I think chapter twenty-one. The question
came up as to why heaven, the place where God lives, be destroyed and the
answer that he gave was right from this section of Job, and that is that Satan
had access to heaven and therefore it was tainted with sin and therefore would
be destroyed.
There will come a day when Satan
will be cast into the lake of fire, but now he is free to roam the earth and
cause trouble for God’s people. (2/3/2025 10:06 AM) I think that there is a
difference with Satan then and now and the difference is that because the Lord
Jesus Christ has died on the cross for our sins that Satan is a defeated foe,
kind of like when you cut the head off of a chicken and the chicken continues
to run around even though the chicken is dead.
I am not saying that Satan does not have power, but not like before the
Lord died.)
The next truth we see here is that
God did not find any fault with Job, but Satan found fault with Job. Jesus said to the Pharisees in John
8:44: “"You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires
of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the
truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks
from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” This is an example of one of Satan’s lies
that is finding fault with Job.
Dr. Wiersbe writes: “This is a courtroom scene, and God and Satan
each deliver verdicts about Job. As you
study this book, keep in mind that God said ‘Not guilty!’ (1:8; 2:3; 42:7) There is nothing in Job’s life that compelled
God to cause him to suffer. But Satan
said ‘Guilty!’ Because e is the accuser
of God’s people and finds nothing good in them (Zech. 3; Rev. 12:10).
“Satan’s accusation against Job was
really an attack on God. We might
paraphrase it like this: ‘The only
reason Job fears You is because You pay him to do it. You two have made a contract: You protect him and prosper him as long as he
obeys You and worships You. You are not
a God worthy of worship! You have to pay
people to honor You.”
After reading this statement I find
it easier to put things into perspective as far as understanding this book
better.
Dr. Wiersbe goes on to say “The
fundamental reason for Job’s suffering was to silence the blasphemous
accusations of Satan and prove that a man would honor God even though he had
lost everything. It was a battle ‘in the heavenlies’ (Ephesians 6:12),
but Job did not know it. Job’s life was
a battlefield where the forces of God and Satan were engaged in a spiritual
struggle to decide the question, ‘Is Jehovah God worthy of man’s worship?’”
The fourth and last truth that
emerges from this section of Scripture is “Satan can touch God’s people only
with God’s permission, and God uses it for their good and His glory. “
As believers we are to bring glory
to God, and our goal should be what is found in Romans 8:29 “For those whom He foreknew, He also
predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be
the firstborn among many brethren.”
Now all of this fits into the thing that I write most every day in my
SD, and that is to learn contentment.
Paul writes in the last part of Philippians 4:11 that he had learned to
be contented in all things, and the way that he learned it was the same way
that Job learned it, and the same way all believers learn and that is going
through troubles. Dr. Wiersbe pointed
out at the beginning of his commentary on Job that he realized that in order to
write his commentary more effectively that he would have to go through trials,
and that is what he told his wife. He
points out that he did go through some trials, but not what they were, and this
made it easier for him to relate to Job.
Whenever I think about Paul writing that he had learned contentment I am
truly amazed, for this is a difficult thing to learn, but in learning it we
become conformed to the Lord which should be all believer’s goal.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: We are
not told all that went through Job’s mind when he received all of this terrible
news, but what we do see is a man who handled it in a mature way, trusting the
Lord even in all of this tragedy that he was going through, and after all that
is the best thing to do. For this my
respect for Job is “off the chart.”
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Put on the spiritual armor; the
belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the Gospel of
peace, take up the shield of faith, put on the helmet of salvation, and take up
the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
2. Continue to learn contentment.
10/22/2011
10:38:03 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment