How do you react to devastation in your life? I think that, with most people, the worse our tragedies are, the worse our reactions will be. And while that is a human instinct, is it a Godly instinct?
Let’s take a look at the book of JOB today and see if there is anything we might be able to pick out that would help us in our time of need. We will concentrate on just the first chapter in today’s message.
Many scholars believe that Moses wrote this book and that this is the oldest book in the bible. It was written sometime between 400-700 years prior to the birth of Jesus.
Job was a much respected man of his time. He was also a very rich man. And, in addition to these things, he was a very loving father. And this book about him is often overlooked, but does offer us some of the most-needed information we could have when it comes to living a holy and proper life.
JOB 1:1-3:
1 In the land of Uz, there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters, 3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man in all the region.
While verses 2-3 tell of job’s earthly wealth and influence, verse 1 begins where it should start; with where Job stood with the Lord God. He was blameless in God’s eyes and he shunned evil. In many ways, Job still stands as the example for Christians today. He is described as a good and Godly man who treated others in a Godly fashion.
When scripture says “fear god”, it doesn’t mean to be scared or afraid of God. It means to show holy reverence to God from the love in our hearts - not because we have to do it but because we want to.
The rest of the book of job is based upon the information given in these verses – what happened to him, how he reacted and why he reacted that way. It helps if we understand that Job’s character was based upon his total trust in God. He suffered unimaginable hurts and lost everything he had, but he did keep his full trust in God.
JOB 1:4-5:
4 His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.
We all like family get-togethers, don’t we? But in those get-togethers, how many of us have drank alcohol or indulged in other things that did not help us in our walks with God? Job’s children threw feasts, or what we call parties today. And at those parties, they drank. Sometimes they would drink a lot. And what happens when we drink? We get loose with our tongues and actions, don’t we? Well, because of those parties, we can tell that Job really loved his children.
He did not condemn or scold them. He simply sacrificed his time so he could perform cleansing for any sins they may have committed during those parties. He was not only a loving father who wanted to make sure his kids were okay with God, but he was also an image of the proper spiritual leader that is talked about in Scripture. I cannot help but wonder how many of us men are the spiritual leaders of our homes.
In JOB 1:6-12, we find that some angels approached God and Satan came with them. And then God and Satan had a conversation.
JOB 1:6-7:
6 One day the angels a came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord saying, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
In verse 6, we see where Satan did not live in heaven any longer. He came to visit God along with the angels. It was not a friendly type of visit, though. When God asked Satan, “Where did you come from?” I am sure it was not with a pleasant tone. But Satan did not answer God directly. He just said he was roaming around on the earth. This shows that Satan is not omnipresent as God is, and cannot be everywhere at the same time like God can be. And when he said he had been roaming around on earth, God knew that he was roaming around trying to find souls to destroy.
1 PETER 5:8 reaffirms this:
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
God then brought up His devoted servant Job who was righteous and devoted. Satan responded by suggesting that Job only followed God because of the blessings God had given him. He was suggesting that if God did not offer him so many blessings, Job would reject God.
This is not the first time Satan has issued a subtle suggestion. He did it to Eve in the garden when he suggested that if she were to just eat of the forbidden fruit she would be as wise as God and would know all right from all wrong. Sure, it was a lie, but that is what Satan does best; he lies so he can persuade us to walk away from our Lord, if even for a brief time.
Satan is the liar of all liars, just as Jesus Christ is the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords.
When Satan questioned Job’s reason for following God (the blessings he got from God) Satan was also questioning God’s character. We have to remember that Satan hates God and is jealous of God. When Satan was in heaven and serving the LORD, he became jealous and started harboring evil thoughts. He wanted what God has, so he finally waged war against God. God won that war and the bible says God hurled him out of heaven.
I want you to picture in your mind a major league baseball picture throwing a fast ball. He does not just toss it, and he certainly does not lob it. He throws it with all his might and hurls it away from him with all the power he has. This is how god hurled Satan out of heaven. With all His power and might! Ever since Satan landed on this earth, he has hated God and has plotted against Him. And until Jesus defeats him at the end of the 1,000 year reign, Satan will always plot against Him.
And one of the biggest ways he plots against God is to destroy God’s creation; mankind. He does this by influencing us with temptations of sin. It is as if Satan wraps his sin in the prettiest of wrapping paper with the most beautiful of bows and ribbons.
Satan was created by God to be the Choir Director of Heaven, so we know he is a very nice looking entity. He is not one that has horns, is all red, has a tail, etc. He is very handsome. And when he takes that box of sin he just wrapped and gives it to you, he will do it in such a way as to make you want to take it and open it! But what do you get when you unwrap it? You get destroyed.
Someone once said it is as if you open it and find a poisonous snake inside that will bite you when you open it. And then, you die. Now, if you were aware of that before you opened the gift, would you still open it? Of course not! But you ask how we can know beforehand.
If you stay in the Lord, He will stay in you. If you will steadily read and ponder His Word, and if you pray on all occasions, and if you will truly absorb as much of Jesus into your life as you possibly can, then the Holy Spirit will give you a warning when you get something that is bad. You will have a doubt as to whether or not to open that gift. And then you are expected to act on that feeling.
JOB 1:10-12:
10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” 12 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
Not only did Satan question Job’s commitment to God, but he also implied that God had blessed Job more than he deserved – and that was the only reason Job followed God. It is true that our God does bless His children more than they deserve, but it isn’t to lure us to follow Him, it is because he simply loves us and wants to reward us. Sure, God blesses us all more than we ever deserve – doesn’t he? But he doesn’t do that to lure us to him, He blesses us because he loves us.
How many of us would be willing to stand in God’s presence, and then challenge him with hatred and anger? That is what Satan did. In verse 10, Satan said if God would take away every blessing Job had, then Job would not follow God any longer, and he said Job would even curse God to is face.
In every court of law, in every nation and in every city, there is something called “court etiquette”. That is something everyone must follow, or they can even be punished for not following it. For instance, you do not address the judge by his or her name, but by the procedural “Your Honor.” That establishes the superiority of the judge over other people when it comes to making a legal decision that affects them.
We must realize that God is the ultimate judge in the ultimate court room of heaven. And we are reading in this first chapter of JOB, that Satan refused to follow court etiquette. In most cases, that would get a person punished instantly, with a fine or even imprisonment, but in verse 12, it says God allowed this ultimate disrespect from Satan and even agreed to let Satan test Job by taking away his blessings. The only stipulation God demanded was that Satan was not allowed to kill Job. This shows us that even when God is allowing us to be tested, He is still there to protect us.
Satan was not just testing Job, though. He was also testing God’s character by insinuating God was bribing JOB to follow him.
We need to think about what our personal motivation is for following God. Is it because He has given us many blessings, or is it because we simply love Him and want to be near His holy presence?
When Satan started testing Job, he did what he does best; steal, kill and destroy. He wasted no time in getting started, either. We read where as soon as one calamity happened, another quickly followed. In one day, Job lost his children, all of his properties, and all of his livestock. He went from being wealthy to being homeless and penniless. He had literally lost everything. And if that were not enough, he even developed a skin disease that gave him severe boils all over his body. And if you have ever suffered from boils, they hurt very much! Satan was convinced that JOB would now curse God and stop being devoted to Him.
Do you think Satan knows nobody gets everything they want, or that things will never go perfectly according to our wishes all the time?
How would you react if you woke up tomorrow morning to a wonderful life, just to lose everything by nightfall? Where would you sleep? How much would you grieve to know that all of your children and grandchildren had died that day? If your car was repossessed and you lost your animals? And to imagine that all happened one after the other, after the other.
JOB 1:20-21:
20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said: “Naked I entered this world, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”
Satan was full of himself. He really thought Job would now curse God and stop following Him, but to his surprise, Job actually bowed down and praised God. See, Job had a heart that understood the words we read in JOB 1:21-22 when it says, “Naked I entered this world, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”
And in reacting the way he did to such devastating events, Job showed Satan that following God is not due to getting blessings, but because of something Satan does not have or understand; and that something is called love. And in his reactions of praise, the bible tells us in verse 22 that Job did not sin by holding Him accountable for any wrongdoing.
Hatred. The one thing God despises more than anything else. That is what started the original rebellion against Him. Satan was jealous of what God had, so he started a war in heaven so he could defeat God and then replace Him. He may have wanted what God has, but he was not qualified to do what God does because he was not fit to be a god of anything but evil. Satan, after all, was nothing but a creation of God.
This should teach all of us to be very careful when wanting what someone else has. Satan yearned to have the things of God, but he wasn’t capable of doing what God does. He did not understand who God really was and had no clue that God’s most special quality is that he is full of love. And because of that love, God provides for those who love Him and He protects those who love Him.
Satan thought Job would run away from God, but what he found out was that Job ran to God. Satan thought, but God knew. That is the difference between the two. When Job’s life was ripped apart, he relied on his love of God to protect Him. Job understood that all we have in this life is only temporary. The only thing that is permanent is our relationship with God.
In 1910, a Methodist preacher named Luther Bridges got a call to go to Kentucky and preach a revival. He left his wife and children in the care of her father, and then went to preach.
The revival was wonderful and had many converts to Jesus Christ. And as he was praising God, he got a phone call. It was not from his wife, but from a friend. The friend told him the worst news he could have ever heard: That while he was gone, a fire in his father-in-law’s home killed his wife and all of his children.
I am sure that at first, he felt as all of us would feel; total devastation. But then he did something that surprised everyone. He called the congregation back to church and they began singing songs of praise. Then, he told them the bad news about his family. And then, he requested prayer – not for himself, but for others that they would come to know Jesus before tragedy struck their lives.
His walk with God was so strong because he did not follow God because of any blessings, but because he knew God and he loved God. And in his time of need, God gave him the peace that surpasses all understanding. He knew his family was saved and they were now in Heaven, so his attention turned to those who were not saved.
PHILIPPIANS 4:7 states what God promises us - for our times of tragedy:
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
