Lessons Learned For Job Part 2 Series

Lessons Learned From Job 2

Scriptures: Job 2-11, Psalm 91:1&4; Matthew 16:13-19; 1 John 4:1

Introduction

In my message last week, I covered four lessons that we should know and understand about Satan. As a reminder, the first four lessons were: 1) Satan is not our friend; 2) Satan is not omnipotent; 3) Satan is deliberately looking for ways to enter and disrupt our lives; and 4) Satan will try to influence each of us through personal gain. This morning we will examine more lessons we can learn about Satan through Job’s experience. Let’s start with lesson number five: Minimize Satan’s impact in our lives by staying in God’s presence.

Lesson 5: Minimize Satan’s impact in our lives by staying in God’s presence.

When we left off the story of Job last week, he had lost what we would consider to be "everything" so it would appear on the surface that Satan had truly had a major impact on his life. As we begin to make the transition in our understanding that our lives exists on a much higher plain than just our physical lives here on earth, we understand that Satan had a minimal impact on the "overall" substance of Job’s life. Through everything that Job went through, he did not turn his back on God, but chose to praise God instead. When we are constantly in God’s presence and understanding what that means, even when we go through terrible times, we know that our lives are not just made up of material things we have here on earth, although that is what we primarily concentrate on. Last week I shared with you what Job said in chapter one, verse twenty-one. He said which was that he brought nothing into this world and he could take nothing out. We spend a lot of time on "stuff" that we cannot take out of this world. What we should be doing is spending time on "stuff" that will be with us when we get to our future lives.

Job did not turn his back on God. Satan tried to separate Job from his Creator, but that did not happen. When we stay in the presence of God, there are things that may tempt us, yet because we are in His presence (where we are supposed to be), we are strong enough to resist the temptation. Think about this analogy; most children will act "right" in the presence of their parents because they understand what will happen when they go against the will of their parents. They know what is expected of them and they act accordingly. They do not venture into trouble because they are in the presence of their parents. The same happens with us when we are in God’s presence. When we recognize that we are always in God’s presence, we should be mindful that we are never without help and support. God is always with us, sometimes leading us, sometimes walking beside us and sometimes carrying us. David sums it up in Psalms 91:1 & 4 when he said "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty…He will cover you with His pinions (feathers), and under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and a bulwark." By staying in the presence of God – there is safety, security and comfort. But again, remember what I told you last week about the hedge of protection. That does not mean bad things will not happen, what it does mean is that you will always have a protector and a means for handling anything that you are faced with in this life.

Lesson 6: Satan will not give up – he is Persistent.

I just shared with you how to minimize Satan’s impact on your life by staying in God’s presence, but don’t think that he will stop trying to influence you. Satan does not give up; he just tries other ways to get to you. Chapter two opens with Satan once again coming into God’s presence after roaming the earth and failing to get Job to curse God. God told Satan that Job still did not turn his back on Him even after everything Satan had done to him. Satan, of course not willing to give up, again accuses God of not knowing what will motivate a man to turn his back on God. Look at what Satan says in verse four and five of chapter two. "And Satan answered the lord and said, ’Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give up for his life. However, put forth Thy hand, now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse Thee to Thy face." God knowing Job gave Satan permission to touch Job’s body. He attacked Job’s body with boils, from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. Job was a complete mess and horrible to look upon. Still Job did not curse God or turn his back on Him. Satan thought for sure that if he touched Job’s body, that Job would relent and curse God because now not only had God taken everything from him, God was now touching his body. Yet through all of this, Job did not curse God and this brings me to lesson 7.