Fit To Be Tried

INTRO: 1. What the Lord does here in this passage may surprise us – He invites Satan to try Job.

a. Trials is not a sign of failure in your life, but success.

b. It’s God’s way of saying, my servant is ‘fit to be tried.’

2. Why did the Lord have such confidence in Job’s ability to withstand one of the greatest trials to ever befall man?

a. He first of all knew Job’s Life.

“there is none like him in the earth, perfect and an upright man.”

1. What you are will be reflected in how you walk and what you do.

2. I have no confidence in those who talk the talk, but refuses to walk the walk!

3. Walking right doesn’t mean you avoid trials and tribulations, it means you are ready for them.

b. He also knew Job’s heart.

“one that feareth God and escheweth evil.”

1. We can put on in front of church people, the people we work with, and sometimes those we live with, but never before God.

2. He knows our heart toward Him. (reverence, let God have his rightful place)

3. He knows our heart toward Evil. (If we really avoid it, if we really hate it)

c. He had already Tried Job – with the trial of success.

1. If you want to know what’s in a man, give him power and authority.

2. If you want to know what’s in a man, give him wealth.

3. How you handle your blessings, will reflect on how you’ll handle your trials.

ILL. You perhaps recall the story of the blacksmith who gave his heart to God. Though conscientious in his living, it seems that from the time of his conversion more trouble, affliction and loss were sustained than ever before. Everything seemed to be going wrong. One day a friend who was not a Christian stopped at the little forge to talk to him. Sympathizing with him in some of his trials, the friend said "It seems strange to me that so much affliction should pass over you just at the time when you have become an earnest Christian. The blacksmith did not answer immediately, and it was evident that he had thought the same question before. But finally, he said "You see here the raw iron which I have to make into horse's shoes. You know what I do with it? I take a piece and heat it in the fire until it is red, almost white with the heat. Then I hammer it unmercifully to shape it as I know it should be shaped. Then I plunge it into a pail of cold water to temper it. Then I heat it again and hammer it some more. And this I do until it is finished." "But sometimes I find a piece of iron that won't stand up under this treatment. The heat and the hammering and the cold water are too much for it. I don't know why it fails in the process, but I know it will never make a good horse's shoe." He pointed to a heap of scrap iron that was near the door of his shop. "When I get a piece that cannot take the shape and temper, I throw it out on the scrap heap. It will never be good for anything." He went on, "I know that God has been holding me in the fires of affliction, and I have felt His hammer upon me. But I don't mind, if only He can bring me to what I should be. And so, in all these hard things, my prayer is simply this: Try me in any way you wish, Lord, only don't throw me on the scrap heap."

3. Although God called him “perfect” and “upright” the Devil still leveled accusation against him.

a. If you think that living right and obeying God, will cause people to stop saying bad things about you – you’re wrong.

b. If you think that just because you’re living right, others won’t have anything bad to say about you – the accuser will make up something. (ILL. Daniel)

c. When we talk negatively and critically about each other, we become instruments of Satan, the father of Accusation. (ILL. Jesus said to Peter “Get thee behind me Satan.”)

d. Satan charged Job with impure motives – serving God for gain.

4. Although, God knew that Job was fit to be tried, the Devil was about to learn it to – because the proof is in the pudding.

a. His reaction in the midst of the trial was indicators of His commitment to God.

5. Are you ‘fit to be tried’ or will the trial crush you and destroy your faith in and devotion to God?

6. Job’s life gives advice on how to handle the trials that God is confident we can handle.