The stage has been set. Job is described as one of the greatest men on earth. God describes him as “blameless and upright”, and “no one like him on all the earth”. What a setting! Only to be challenged by Satan himself, no less! The accusation? Job (and, the implication, all other men) fear God because of God’s ability to withhold or grant His blessings. While the source and intent of the accusation can be questioned, it does cause us to consider: Why do we fear God? For His protection? For His mercy or grace? For life in the hereafter? Or simply because He commands it? My guess is that “all of the above” is the answer for most of us. Upbringing and culture will dictate some of our attitude, family influence or lack thereof another portion. My hope is that one other factor begins to be the larger influence, your relationship with God.Look carefully at verse 12, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Combine that with the comments in verse 8 where God describes Job as His servant and blameless and upright. God and Job had a VERY deep relationship. One that God was convinced would stand ANY and ALL tests. As we shall see over the coming weeks and months, Job, too, was confident in his relationship with God. We see here that God is confident in His relationship with JOB AND with Job’s relationship with Him. They knew each other’s heart, and because of that, God could speak on Job’s behalf, and soon we will see Job can speak freely and confidently with and to God.Do you know God’s heart? He knows yours and wants a deeper relationship with you! Are you ready to know God as Job did???