Monday, April 20, 2009

Job Suffers Physically Job 2

Job 2:6 "And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life."

Many of us have suffered loss in life. We have lost jobs, our property and sometimes our loved ones. Job suffered such pain. If we have our physical strength, we can usually come back from great distress. Our heart will heal with time and we can work to restore our possessions.

Now in this chapter, Satan has again appeared in the presence of God with the sons of God. Again, he is presented with a challenge. JOB.

v3 "And the LORD said unto Satan Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him to destroy him without cause."

Note the word 'still'. Through no fault of his own, Job has seemingly lost everything but he still holds fast his integrity. So Satan is given power over Job's body but cannot take his life.

v7 "So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown."

You know, some people think Satan is just misunderstood. That he maybe is not all that bad or that he really does not exist. Here we can see the heart of Satan. Once God took his hand off Job and allowed Satan to proceed, Satan wasted no time in doing hurt to Job. He would waste no time doing harm to us, if the LORD took his protecting hand off us. If Satan was not restrained, he would do much more harm than he already does. It is who he is.

v8 "And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes."

This was a great man, he must have been very intelligent to accumulate all that he had. He also honored God with his heart. We will see that he found no support during this times. It seems that everyone thought surely Job had committed some awful sin for him to have such trouble. We cannot always see the action going on behind the scenes.

v9 "Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die."

'You'd be better off dead.' it seems she was saying. And from his wife of all people. Job did not lash out at her but did correct her thinking.

v10 "But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh, What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? in all this did not Job sin with his lips."

Notice the last words 'with his lips'. I suspect we all have fleeting thoughts flashing through our mind that makes you wonder where they came from. I don't think Satan can read our mind but I do believe he can inject thoughts to hurt and confuse us. Maybe it is suspicion about a friend or a criticism about someone. We do not have to voice these thoughts. We can accept them as an attack and know (if it is so) that these thoughts are not what is in our heart. We keep them to our self and let them pass. Once bad thoughts are voiced, they are fuel that Satan can use.

v11 "Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came everyone from his own place...to mourn with him and to comfort him."

Job looked so bad they did not recognize him from a distance. They approached him and did not speak for seven days and nights but sat with him. I do not see what comfort it would be for Job while he sat in ashes and scratched his boils, to have his friends stare at him for seven days.

In the next chapter, Job speaks of his birth.

Psalm 18:21 "For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God."

Job suffers physically.
Previous Post.

No comments: