Quote for the Day
“…he still maintains his integrity…”
Today's Prayer
This week pray that you can see God in the same light that Job saw Him: as One who has control over all events of life, and One who loves and cherishes those who love Him. Pray for those traveling that they will have the ability to see God as He is: Creator and Protector.
Job 2:1-6
Job 2:1-6 (NIV)1 On another day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.”3 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”4 “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. 5 But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”6 The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”
Message
WOW! In these six short verses we have an enormous amount of theology, emotion, and more than just a small question mark for many of us. Let’s go through things one by one. First, the being of Satan…Does he ever give up?!? The answer is “no”. He continues with unrelenting determination and force to destroy any and all. On a positive note (or two) let’s read carefully and understand that Satan is a finite being. He came once again from roaming the earth. He is an individual with limited power (as we will see) unlike our protector, God Almighty, who has unlimited power and is omnipresent. Second item is God’s attitude about Job. God continues to announce Job’s integrity and character. What an awesome relationship Job must have had with God for God to continue to proclaim to all the heavens what a great man he was. Third item is the final verse. God relinquishes His control and protection over Job once more, not just over his possessions, but now to his very flesh, up to the point of death. The question “why??” is screamed by all who read this passage. Why would God allow this? He has the power to say yes or no, as we see Satan is without power until God allows it to happen. This is the age old question that many are asking today in light of the recent tragedies of nature in . Did not God have the power to stop these? Or did in fact God create or just allow the events to happen? We will see this basic question debated over and over during the next 40 chapters of Job. Can we question God? Job will, eventually. Is God in control of EVERYTHING? For today, let’s look back at these six verses and try to understand the reason God allowed Satan to continue his test of Job. It is simply because God knew that Job and He had a relationship that could withstand anything and everything, and this would show the world the truth of it. I believe we will see over the next few weeks and months that we all have access to that same relationship as well as those same trials. The world is watching and waiting to see if we perform as Job did.