Job started out rooted in his faith in God.
Even after losing his family and his possessions, he trusted God.
He said, “The Lord gave and The Lord has taken away; may the name of The Lord be praised.”
However, satan knew where to attack next. Satan said to God, “Strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
God was not going to attack Job. Job’s body, the same as our bodies, are just what God revealed to Paul.
Our bodies are Temples of The Holy Spirit, God within us.
So when God gave satan permission to attack Job’s body, He was in essence taking satan on in a match satan could not win.
Satan was daring to come against the place where God lived with Job. Satan would have liked nothing better to get inside and steal Job and evict God.
So the battle began. One affliction after another. One misery without let up. People Job trusted to encourage or even rescue him sat outside Job’s body and gave useless advice on what to do.
Job began to crack like an egg. Everything he thought he understood crumbled before him. Every prayer he uttered, he thought went unheard.
He began to do what satan hoped for. He began to use the words of his mouth to echo what satan was saying.
Job thought, God was not there. God was far away. God was not coming to save him. God had judged him wrongly. God was punishing him. God had made him inferior.
Job not only wanted his life to end, he wished his life had never begun.
Of course, satan is a liar. God was with Job, inside his body all the time. God had already saved him. God had not judged him wrongly. He had judged him rightly, knowing He would prevail in Job. God had created Job perfectly from the beginning.
God was speaking, but Job was talking so much, he could not hear. He only heard satan.
God let the battle rage for a long time. Job did not die at God’s Hands and certainly not satan’s. Then God spoke.
He did not stop the battle, even though he could have. The storm raged on. God spoke out of the storm.
He spoke in questions to Job, probing questions about who Job knew Him to be. Why speak to him in questions? He spoke so Job would answer in his spirit, which is where the battle originated and where it would be finished.
At last Job not only believed God. He knew God, His Creator, His Sustainer, His Savior.
Then Job replied to The Lord:
I know that You can do all things; no Purpose of Yours can be thwarted.
You asked,
“Who is this that obscures My Plans without knowledge?”
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.
You said, “Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.”
My ears had heard of You, but now my eyes have seen You!
Job 42:1-5
The Lord then gave Job the joy of praying for his friends who had spoken wrongly of God. God blessed Job abundantly in every way, most importantly continuing to live with him.
There is no record of satan ever trying to get in that Temple (Job’s body) again. However, he continues to try to enter any other bodies he can. Stay alert so you do not fall to his tactics and start agreeing with Him instead of God.
Peter told us what to do.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s Mighty Hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
And The God of All Grace, Who called you to His Eternal Glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
To Him be The Power for ever and ever! Amen.
1 Peter 5:6-11
