ListenDaily - 06 July 2009: Can't tell up from down...
Job's First Test
One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. 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." 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." "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. "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. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face." The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger." Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
One day when Job's sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!" While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!" While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!" While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, "Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"
At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart.The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
Job 1:6-22 NIV (find any passage at www.Biblegateway.org)
We will spend a few days in this passage, as there is so much here...so much which is easy to miss...and so much which can be easily misunderstood. I would like to start with: "One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them."
Do you find this statement startling? It startled me the first time I paid attention to it. I used to have a notion of of God being 'up there' and Satan being, you know...'down there'. But this passage certainly puts that notion aside. The picture we get here is the King of all there is, surrounded by a council of angels, and not just those who chose to stay obedient to God, but Satan as well. (What a contrast this is from the images in Revelation, after Satan is no more, when all Heavenly beings do nothing but worship God.)
As we read about Job's problems and consider our own, please remember this: God is indeed King, indeed sovereign, and Satan is limited within the authority of God.
We may not understand why Satan has been allowed to 'roam the Earth', but we must remember that though he is opposite in intent to God, he is not equal to God in any way, and can only maneuver within the limits allowed him. Whatever bad things happened to Job, whatever happened to Jesus, and whatever happens to believers even now, are all within the constraints in which Satan is allowed to work. The things that take place in the spiritual realm are largely beyond our understanding, but God loves you enough to allow His Son to be sacrificed for you, and your ultimate good is His goal.
Satan was defeated when the stone was rolled away. His last whimpering efforts may cause us pain, but ultimately God will be glorified.
Amen.
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Questions:
1. How does the image of Satan approaching God affect your thinking? 2. How do you compare God and Satan in regards to their intent? Their authority? Their power? 3. What Scriptures confirm those comparisons?
INTERESTING THOUGHT:
"A man may lose the good things of this life against his will;
but if he loses the eternal blessings, he does so with his own consent."
Augustine
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