City Life Starter

I. The Word: Job 1:6-12

6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 8 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” 9 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

The book of Job typically seems to be the book we pass by on our way to other more encouraging words in the scripture. That is, of course, until we go through some kind of trial in our lives. Especially the trials we do not seem to understand. In the video from The Bible Project we linked to yesterday the book of Job was wonderfully explained and illustrated. If you missed it I highly recommend you check it out here and look into more of their videos.

This lyrical epic poem is like no other book of the bible. In this book you see a dialogue between God and Satan, another long dialogue between Job and his friends, and finally a dramatic dialogue between God and Job. Today I want to look at verses 6-12 as we see a very interesting perspective on God and his dealings with “the sons of God” and in particular this interesting dialogue between God and Satan.

Here you have Satan (Hebrew word meaning, accuser or adversary) approching God in a courtroom type setting ASKING if he could test Job, this upright man, who Satan tries to convince he is only serving God because life is good and successful.

This depiction of a courtroom we see is such an interesting scenerio if you really think about it. I don’t know about you, but growing up I was taught that there is this kind of cosmic war going on in the heavenlies where God and Satan, light and darkness, good and evil, are battling constantly with one another. Almost as equal foes on opposite ends of the morality spectrum. This scene tells quite a different story however. It seems to say there is no contest and in fact Satan can only “work” if he is given permission.

This idea can take you to a couple of different questions or conclusions. One being, “Why in the world would God allow Satan to ever do anything evil if He has the say ultimately?” That’s a good question and one which is constantly debated. I’ll save that for another time. I would rather look at this and ask the question, “If God is that sovereign (possessing supreme or ultimate power) why should I ever be afraid?” This image of God’s power could make me either mad at Him in my trial, or in awe of Him through my trial. My perspective determines where my trust is.

You see if I question Him in my trial because He could have prevented it, I am acknowledging His sovereignty while questioning His goodness or justice. However, when I am in awe of His power and trust His goodness I will be able to walk through anything knowing He will receive the glory somehow. (Romans 8:28)

The crazy thing about Job is that even by the end of the book God never fully answered why he allowed this suffering. He also never painted this courtroom picture for Job that we get a glimpse of behind the scenes. That is usually the most frustrating part of suffering, not knowing why.

I know a lot of people who have told me, “I could handle suffering if God would just say, ‘In ten years this will produce ______ in your life and help you with _____.’ Then I could handle it better.”

The problem with this mentality is you would be serving God for the things YOU were going to get. The only real way to to make sure you are serving God for Him alone (His Glory), rather than what you will ultimately get out of it, is you have to be in a condition where serving God gives you nothing. In fact, you’re getting the opposite as a result of serving Him. That’s the reason you can’t KNOW the reason for your suffering. There cannot be a reason to the why question revealed to you or you will never become the kind of person suffering is meant to make you.

If you really want to learn how to love God for himself alone and not be a manipulator or an exploiter then you must be willing to let Him put you through trials without full explanation. Look at His grandness, trust in His goodness. Be faithful to Him without reason or sight. As I say often, “My job is faithfulness, His job is fruitfulness.”

Psalm 89:14 says, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Mercy and truth go before Your face.”

If the foundations that He is right and just get cracked in our hearts we will always go through life bitter and frustrated. But if we do trust that He is right, even when I don’t see it and He is just especially when I don’t feel it. I have built my life on a firm foundation and will love and trust God “though He slay me.” (Job 13:15)

Resource for thought:

C.S. Lewis’ book The Screwtape Letters (If you have never read this book I highly recommend it.)

Senior demon Screwtape and his nephew Wormwood discuss how to produce their ‘perfect work’ – the person closed to belief in God, yet worshiping demons under other names or forms.