Topic: Spiritual War
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD. (Job 1:6-12 KJV)
We don't know how long this tragedy has been happened to Job, but we know who is in control of everything. Throughout the book, Job faced many tragedies in his life in a short time, but he did not lost his faith in God. Even though Satan has access to the throne of heaven, he cannot do anything to God's people without permission from Him.
In Job 1:6, the “sons of God” may have been angels. The Bible speaks of other heavenly councils where God and the angels plan their activities on earth and where angels are required to give account of themselves (i.e., 1 Kings 22:19-23). Because he originally was an angel of God, who decided to rebellion against God, he is considered as an enemy of God. Because he has very limited power, Satan can do only what he is permitted (Luke 22:31-32; I Timothy 1:19-20; II Timothy 2:23-26). Even today, we can see his work in our nation, but he cannot control the people. The only way he can control us if we'd let him.
Also in the beginning verse 6, Satan is noisy creature. How noisy he is? Satan had access to the throne of God, because he was an angel of God before he rebellion against Him; because God is a merciful God, He is still letting him to enter into His palace. This tells us that even we sinned against God, He is still allowing us to come to Him. I John 4:10 said, "…not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be propitiation for our sins."
But why God brought up Job to Satan in verse 8? Even though we don't know all the answers from His words, God is sovereignty in all things. He knew why Satan showed up to Him. He knew that he came for revenge. Revenge for what? Satan wants to steal the throne of God. He wants to be like God (Isaiah 14:12-14). God knows that Job is a righteous man, who fears Him, but Satan thinks that he is a sinful guy, who accused Him. Even though God let him to play around with Job, he has very limited power to make miserable his life.
Are you willing not to give up on God when you'd face the most difficult life
situation? We will see how Job responded when his life is in crisis. Satan uses Job's life situation to try to abuse God. How many times when the crisis come, we decide to doubt on God and ourselves? Read verse 9. Satan challenged God about Job's crisis. And I want to ask why God let Satan to make more miserable in Job's life situation? Can Job curse God when he faced difficulties? Let's find out in the next session of this message series.
