The Truth about Job
Many Christians miss interrupt the
book of Job. God does not take back his blessings or turn us over to
Satan without cause. That unjustified act would make God just as
evil as Satan. Yet, that is exactly what many Christians believe God
did to Job. To refute that false belief, let's take a quick look at
these first couple chapters in Job, to see what was really happening
and also who was saying what. The author of Job says that Job’s
substance was large enough to make him the greatest man in the
East. What he doesn't say is just as important. The author does not
say that Job's vast wealth was a blessing from God. (Job 1:3) We can
take the author's statements at face value, since the
author was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write "Job" and it is he
who is speaking here. However, when Satan speaks, we cannot take his
words to be factual and it is Satan who says, that Job obtained this
great wealth because God had blessed the works of Job’s hands. (Job
1:10) Show me a single quote, from Satan, in the entire bible, where
he has not twisted the truth into a lie! He lied to Eve. He lied
three times to Jesus, in the desert. He also lied to God about Job's
situation here. In John 8:44, Jesus says there is no truth in Satan.
He says Satan is a liar and the father of lies. Plainly put, Jesus
said, that Satan is incapable of telling the truth. Why, then, should
we believe what Satan says to God in Job 1:10 when he says, “You
have blessed the works of Job’s hands”?
In Job 1:12, God said, “Look (Behold) Satan, everything he has, is
in your power”. The verb “is” in this sentence denotes a present
state of being. In other words, God was reminding Satan of the
truth, which was this. Everything that Satan had called a blessing
from God really came Satan, himself. God was simply setting the
record straight here by reminding Satan of that fact. Job's wealth and even
his children were in Satan's grasp, and God knew it. God
also knew that these "so called blessings", which Job was
deceived into believing were coming from God, were really
coming from Satan, as an enticement, to keep Job headed down the
self-works trail. Most Christians, however, believe these lying words of Satan
here and thus miss the real truth. Satan had already started his
ruse, at the beginning of the conversation, when he ask God to let him take away those
"so called blessings", as a test of Job's faithfulness. You see, Satan
began trying to deceive even God, from the very first time he opened
his mouth. He routinely fools many of God’s people, into thinking, that their
gain is a reward, for their good works. So, it was with Job. Knowing
this, God simply allowed Satan to take away from Job, that, which
had been in his control all along. Job's acquired property and even
his godless children were a hindrance, not a blessing. When Satan
took away these hindrances, He was actually doing Job and God a big
favor, by removing what had been deceiving Job and thus preventing
him from developing a
deeper relationship with God.
Satan used the same type of scheming tactic during the second
meeting between he and God. This time it had to do with Job's
health. Satan, again tried to trick God into believing that Job's
health was in God's hands. God corrected Satan again by saying in
Job 2:6 that Job's health was already under Satan's spell. Backing
up several verses, God started this second conversation, by calling
attention to Job's faithfulness, even after Satan had so vilely
destroyed his world. (Job 2:3) Once again, this verse is also widely
misunderstood by many Christians. They believe that God is telling
Satan that he, Satan, had convinced Him to destroy Job. Here is what
I believe is a major reason for misinterpreting what God is saying
here. The
old English verb "movedst", in the Kings James, or "incited" in the
NIV, is routinely taken out of context. This causes many to interpret
the last sentence in this verse to mean that God actually was
convinced by Satan to destroy Job, for no reason. That's not what
this verse is saying. The Hebrew word for "movedst" is "cuwth",
which means, "lure, incite, entice or instigate (in a bad sense).
Yes, Satan did "entice" God to destroy Job without cause, but that
doesn't mean that God did what Satan was enticing Him to do.
Obviously, He didn't do what Satan wanted Him to do, because Job was
not destroyed. Instead, he wound up in a better position than ever
before.
What the story of Job is actually telling us is this. Instead of
Satan using God, God used Satan against himself, to free Job. At the
beginning of this story, the deceptions of Satan, through the adding
of wealth and the absence of attacks on Job's health were lures from
Satan, not blessing from God. These lures keep Job from drawing
closer to God. Each time Job
made a sacrifice, Satan throw him another bone, making him think his
self-righteous good works
were actually paying off and buying him favor with God. It was only when God tricked Satan
into removing these barriers, that Job's unfailing commitment to
God, was able to finally allow him to recognize that God had
something much
greater in store for him. In short, Job had to be emptied of that
which kept him in bondage to Satan's deceptions, before he
could receive the true blessings of God. Since I, myself, have
traveled down that path, I can assure the reader that it is not a
pleasant journey. However, it is a journey which can produce
enormous benefits. A closer relationship with God, himself, is first
on that list of benefits. Job 42:5 "I
have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth
thee".
His written word confirms everything I
am saying here. Yet, I realize that what I am saying here is
contrary to what many bible teachers teach. I too, like many other
Christians, believed on God for years, but knew very little about
him. I, like Job, was caught up, in a self-centered way, of relating
to God. I had been born of His Spirit, but I wasn’t knowledgeable
enough in His word to begin to understand Him. We humans easily
become so intent on chasing the tangible things, of this world, but
fail to spend enough time, developing the most important
relationship we will ever have. Christians, hear about God from
their parents, from a pastor, from an evangelist, in a church
meeting, or summer camp, and over the years, begin to think they
know God. The fact is, most Christians know very little about the
nature of God. Satan is a master at giving Christians enough rope to
hang themselves by twisting the truth just a little. Most Christians
receive God’s saving grace, but afterward spend very little time
learning about who God is. The bible is about him, not us! We, too
often, spend our time, on self-improvement programs, centered on
improving our position in this world, instead of the world to come.
All too often Christians use their self-righteous performance, as a
measuring stick, instead of using the perfect pattern of Christ. I
know I fell into this trap, and still do, in some areas of my life.
In this void, created by ignorance, as we become wrapped up in
self-improvement projects, ever learning, but never coming to the
realization of the truth, it becomes very easy, just like Job, for
us to mistake the stolen enticements, offered to us, by Satan, for
the blessings of our Lord. Remember, he enticed Jesus with a gift of
the entire world, and he would, no doubt, have given him everything,
that he, himself, had stolen, in order to derail his destiny. As a
Christian, do you think you would be able to turn down control of
the entire world? Don’t lie! Most of us would be justifying
acceptance of this Trojan horse, by telling ourselves how much we
could do for God, if we controlled the entire world. Really? Then
why did Jesus turn it down?
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