This past week I have spent a great deal of time reading about Job. It has been personally very revealing, challenging, and redeeming to read of Job’s journey from one place to another. I think that to look at Job’s life, before he was tested, would be to see a man that was enjoying the fruits of his blessings. He was esteemed by family, friends, and most especially God, but moreover he was a man that appeared to be very sin conscious and so he daily sought to offer a sacrifice for any wrong that his children might do against God.
This thought came to mind as I was pondering this man Job. Sometimes you have to get down in the dirt before you can rise up to that place where you may not get to otherwise. Also, as I further contemplated Job I know something for certain, and that is that if God has shown a spotlight on you, and me, then it is more than what initially meets the eye. God did not have to prove anything to Satan. God opened this door of access to Job for the bigger more life changing revelation that would come.
Our God does what is beyond our understanding to bring to our understanding what He deems as vital to us fully becoming the individuals that we need to be. He does nothing that is random, but always what will teach and instruct us in the way to go. So, Satan may have thought he had a clue as to where this conversation was going, and why, but I think that God was just clever enough to dangle His servant Job in such a way that He knew the devil would not be able to resist taking a bite. We are all familiar with the Scripture in Matthew where Jesus tells His disciples to be as shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. Jesus knew that He was sending His sheep out among the wolves who would have no regard for their care, so knowing that Satan was led down a path that he could not resist is very telling.
If you are like me, you probably have a favorite chapter in Job. The one that brings me to tears each time that I read it is when God is questioning Job. When God says to Job, “Where were you when I established the earth?” I feel a knowing comfort because it affirms deep in my spirit that God is up to whatever challenge comes against those that belong to Him. He will take care of us like He has taken care of everything since before time.
Job 42: 16-17 CSB Job lived 140 years after this and saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. Then Job died, old and full of days.