Remember Job? His story probably isn’t that unique

I remember once during prayer group at PCC that my suitemate, Tony Ferguson, gave a devotion for that session. Tony spoke on the Book of Job.

For those who don’t remember Sunday School or who aren’t familiar with the Bible, let me summarize: Job is probably the oldest book in the Old Testament. He was a righteous man who feared God and sacrificed regularly. Satan was convinced that Job’s allegiance to God was because God did nothing but bless Job. God allowed Satan first to kill Job’s children and then to strike Job with physical infirmities. In spite of all the heartache and fierce persecution, Job refused to renounce God and wondered aloud why he was going through such torment. His friends were convinced he had unconfessed sin in his life. God finally tells Job’s friends they were wrong in their assessment, and He tells Job that He (God) is in control and it’s not up to Job to question God’s ways.

While God allows Job to heal and become more prosperous than before (in both material possessions and children), one thing I found odd about this story: God never tells Job of the conversation that took place between Satan and God. It’s safe to assume Job knows by now, since he has been in heaven for about 4,500 years, he probably knows by now.

“Job must have been a remarkable guy if God saw fit to brag about him to Satan,” Tony said.

Tony didn’t know it at the time, but over the next few days he gave me a lot to think about.

God placed Job to the challenge because God knew Job would prevail.

It makes me think that such exchanges and challenges between God and Satan occur regularly. Perhaps Satan might say these things:

“Let me move this man’s wife to fall in love with someone else and ask for a divorce, and he will curse you!”

“Allow me to take away this man’s millions, and he will curse you!”

“Allow me to ruin this man’s career through false accusations, and he will curse you!”

And perhaps the toughest of all:

“Allow me to let this man to be falsely sent to prison, and for him to be brutalized and raped, and he will curse you!”

Whenever we go through trials in our life, whether it’s the ending of a marriage, the losing of wealth, reputation, the endurance of a mountain of physical and emotional pain, maybe it all happened because God bragged about us to Satan and is putting us through a trial to show Satan His sovereignty.

Yes, it’s unpleasant, but as the Book of Job dictates, God puts us through nothing we can’t handle. To backslide and quit the Christian walk is foolish. To commit suicide is even more foolish. Both only will result in one sad accomplishment: a life wasted that could’ve been spent being an enormous blessing of evangelization and encouragement.

If you feel like you are enduring what Job went through, don’t quit.

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