Job 1:8-12 Then the Lord asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man on the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.” 9 Satan replied to the Lord, “Yes, but Job has good reason to fear God. 10 You have always put a wall of protection around him, his home, and his property. You have made him prosper in everything he does. Look how rich he is! 11 But reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face!” 12 “All right, you may test him,” the Lord said to Satan. “Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don’t harm him physically.” So, Satan left the Lord’s presence."
Job 2:3-6 Then the Lord asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil. And he has maintained his integrity, even though you urged me to harm him without cause.”4 Satan replied to the Lord, “Skin for skin! A man will give up everything he has to save his life. 5 But reach out and take away his health, and he will surely curse you to your face!”6 “All right, do with him as you please,” the Lord said to Satan. “But spare his life.”
As I write this devotion, I am nearing the end of reading the book of Job. This morning, I read chapters 28 and 29. God is finally speaking to Job after who knows how long it’s been in his loss and physical suffering. Job has insisted on his innocence. He declares to his unbelieving friends that he has done nothing to deserve what has happened to him. If you knew of anyone who suffered like Job, wouldn’t the thought of him committing some heinous sin come to mind? You might wrestle against that thought, but we would all wonder.
This story begins with God inviting Satan, the adversary, Revelation 12:10, the accuser of faithful followers of God, to consider His Servant, Job. In both chapters One and Two, God puts out this invitation, and Satan accepts. We gasp as we read or discuss this part. I've never taught Job, and there weren't folks holding their breath and hoping, "This time, it will read differently." It is always the same: God invites, and Satan accepts. The beauty, perhaps overlooked in the offering of God’s servant to Satan, is the limitations placed. There should be a sense of safety as God’s creation that He allows but limits or sets boundaries for what can and cannot be done in our lives. To be fair, none of us want to suffer. I get it; we want the limits to be such that nothing bad happens. Brothers and Sisters, we would never grow in our faith if God didn’t allow things to happen and cause our flesh to continue to die. Also, our world is in decay and groaning for relief. In a decaying world, trouble happens all around, and we get in its way and are impacted. That is where God’s limits are obeyed by Satan and by Nature. We cannot have anything happen to us without God allowing, doing, and then placing limits. This is the safety in which we rest in our God.
He tells Satan, in Chapter One, “… but don’t harm him physically.” Then, in Chapter Two, it says, “But spare his life.” This morning, when I read chapter 28, God’s limiting power over the elements of nature caused my heart to glory in the Majesty of The LORD. In Job 38: 4-11: “‘Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? … Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone…? Who kept the sea inside its boundaries…? For I locked it behind barred gates, limiting its shores.’ I said, ‘This far and no farther will you come. Here your proud waves must stop?’”
The profundity in those words should move our hearts to exhale, YAHHHHWEHHHH! With worship in our hearts and desire toward Him for obedience because He’s allowed us to see within His Sovereignty. When it rains and pours as it did in Job’s life, the comprehension of God’s power to place limits is skewed in our view. Dark clouds of agony are blinding. We can miss the moment when the sun peeks through a tear in the clouds to say, “God is present and has set limits on your suffering.” We miss this powerful truth that God limits how much we will face because all we put our eyes on is what we see physically. We become blind by our own making. When God wants us to open our eyes to Truth so we may be set free.
Job's story starts by describing God’s power to limit and nuance the trials in his and our lives. He controls our adversaries' and limits his ability to bring destruction to our lives. And with those limits, He has offered us protective gear, Ephesians 6:10-18: “10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we[d] are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.13 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle, you will still be standing firm. 14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. 15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.[e] 16 In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.[f] 17 Put on salvation as your helmet and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.”
To put the icing on the cake and share the wonder of God’s power with us, Job’s story ends with God as Creator and limiting Earthly elements and their power. The passage says God sets up a “surveying line.” He laid a “cornerstone” for the earth. He set the sea inside “boundaries.” He “locked it behind barred gates.” As in the earlier chapters, God converses with Satan and says of Job, “But do not harm him physically.” Then, “…spare his life.” God speaks personally to the Sea, “Here, your proud waves must stop!” The Bible makes clear that God is Sovereign. Bible stories like Job's teach us how He demonstrates His Sovereign right to rule. Those descriptions are all over Job's story: how God offers the freedom to... and then limits of ... are crucial aspects of His Sovereignty.
One more point: God speaks in the Book of Job personally, not just to Satan, His enemy, or the Sea, a force of nature, but more importantly to Job, His trusted and observed servant. The personal name of God, Yahweh, the I AM, describes His hands-on, individualized care for all He has made. Here is a passage that expounds on God’s care for His creation and each of us: Matthew 6:26: “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” This is the God whose hands Job was in, even as he suffered. This is the Father, who says, “Are you not much more valuable…?” The fact that we are more valuable doesn’t negate that we will suffer; it says, as the story of Job expounds, we will suffer. The difference is that we are in the hands of a God who sets limits and is personally involved with us as we do.
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