Satan hurled everything he could to throw Job off track and derail his relationship with God. He will also strategize to drive a wedge between us and God.
First, Satan sends invaders to kill Job’s servants and steal his livestock. In an instant, his only means of income vanishes. No bank account. No 401K. No government assistance to tide him over. All of his considerable wealth — gone.
Satan’s next ploy gets close and personal. A wind sweeps in from the desert and causes the house where his sons and daughters are gathered to collapse. They all die. It’s hard enough to think about losing one child, but all your children? No more family dinners. No more family anything. His legacy — gone.
Satan is sure he can get Job to turn against God if he experiences physical suffering. He afflicts him with pain from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. Job endures so much agony that he wishes he had never been born. His health and vitality — gone.
Job’s perception of God may have been short-sighted, but he did not let his circumstances paint a distorted picture of God’s mercy. When he eventually saw his error, he repented. And all that had been lost was restored.
Satan continues today to attempt to use our crises to weaken our relationship with God. We must not let him do that. More lies behind our circumstances than we see. God will work it out for our good. Stay steady, my friend, in “all this,” no matter what your “all this” might include.
Father thank you that nothing we face lies beyond your mercy and power. Please give us strength to endure and to not be tricked by the enemy of our soul. Amen.
Go Deeper ― Choose to lay your difficult circumstance before the Lord and tell him you are trusting him to bring you through.
Consider reading Crumbs Along the Way and discover how the folktale Hansel and Gretel can be an example for trust and endurance in times of difficulty.