Consider Job
In the book of Job, Satan showed up at God’s throne and God asks him where he had come from. He answered “I’ve been going back and forth across the earth, watching everything that is going on.”
God asks “have you checked out my man Job and seen that he’s the finest man on earth and a man of integrity?” God, like a good lawyer, never asks a question the doesn’t already know the answer to. “He fears God and will have nothing to do with evil.”
Satan being the accuser replies, “Well you’ve protected and blessed him so much, take it away and he will curse you.” It’s kind of like us in America: we are so blessed and protected, that some people probably think we are God’s chosen nation. But Israel still is.
Well God allows Satan to test Job and in quick succession Job loses his crops, his livestock, his children and his health. His wife tells him to let go of his integrity and curse God and die. Then three friends come by and seeing how badly he is suffering, they sit with him for seven days and nights not saying a word. Unfortunately for Job, his friends start talking and their words are more accusatory than healing. Job reaches the point where he wants to argue his case before God because he knows he has not done anything wrong. God answers Job complaints and sets him straight about who is who in this world. Yet in all of this Job does not sin and God restores everything to him twice over.
What can we learn from Jobs life and apply to our lives now?
We are blessed and have more than we deserve. So be grateful.
Satan is always accusing us. So trust Jesus as your intercessor.
God allows testing to build our character and faith. So persevere
We will probably never lose as much as Job did and he never cursed God. So revere God
The people in your life can either make you or break you. So choose your friends wisely.
it is okay to question God but the answer may not be what you expect. So be careful what you ask for.
Probably the most important words Job spoke were “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
So bless God’s name no matter what you have in this life.
Our true treasures are in heaven!