Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from Job 2:1 and following. Indeed, with Jehovah’s permission, Satan launched a new assault on Job. This time he attacks his person. This is too much for Job’s wife. “Curse God and die,” she cries. New test for our patriarch! His own wife is the Instrument of the Enemy to get him to “curse God in the face” (as Satan had promised: Jb 1:6-12; Jb 2.5). But he remains firm, receiving evil as good “from God” (v. 10; Lam 3:37-41). We who often irritate ourselves for so little, admire and imitate the example of this man of God. Our tendency is always to stop at the visible causes of our difficulties. But for Job it is not those of Sheba, nor the Chaldeans, nor even Satan, who are responsible for his misfortunes. He recognizes the hand of God behind these agents (only he does not yet know that it is a hand of love). And we have an incomparably greater pattern: the One who received everything from His Father’s hand, including the cup of God’s wrath against sin (John 18:10-12). The chapter ends with an impressive scene: Job and his three friends, sitting silent for seven days, in front of unparalleled pain and in the presence of a deep mystery.
On another day, the sons of God present themselves again in heaven, and Satan not only comes into their midst, but, it is added here, to “present himself before Jehovah.” One would have thought that surely the Adversary was now covered in shame. He had been able to act entirely as he pleased, and the only result was that God had been all the more glorified. But this was not the case, for the iniquitous knows no shame; it is not necessary to add that Satan is the leader and driving power of all who are such. So he was present. And Jehovah addresses new questions to him and emphasizes that his servant Job “remains firm in his perfection,” although the Enemy has done everything possible to train him to revolt against God. Satan asks for a new trial. “Skin for skin”, that is, as many think: “eye for an eye”, or: “He will reciprocate”. It may also be that he belittles everything that had taken place so far to a superficial test that had only reached the surface of things. So he adds, “Let there now be a deeper bitterness, and we will see.” “But stretch out your hand and touch his bones and his flesh: you will see if he does not curse you in the face.” And Jehovah said to Satan, “Here he is in your hands, only spare his life.”
The reservation about his life was not intended to diminish the trial, but to bring out the triumph of God, for the sake of the good of the afflicted, which is the great lesson of the book. In fact, the trial would have been less great anyway and the lesson lost, if God had found it good to take away from Him his servant Job as his children; so when his faith failed, death was what he eagerly desired. It would have been immediate consolation for him to die. He had no fear whatsoever as to God’s love for him, if only he had been with Him, and however lamentable the condition to which the Enemy might reduce him further, it would have ended immediately by leaving the scene of such suffering. But God preserved his life, while allowing Satan to unleash all his malice against him, not, it seems to me, in order to spare Job any trial, which was far from his goal, but because death would have prevented the fulfillment of his plan of grace and blessing, in the presence of evil and the Enemy. That God had such a goal is, indeed, what this book presents to us. We also find in it that, however great and infinite God may be in his resources, each saint is the object of his solicitude, and his purpose alone will prevail. Whatever pains afflict his own, they are only the circumstances of the way; it is not only so with us, but so it was in the days before redemption. This great principle is always true, because God always remains the Same; this was the case before the manifestation of Christ.
So Satan came out, “and he struck Job with a malignant ulcer, from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. And he took a shard to scratch from it, and he was sitting in the ash. And his wife said to him: Do you still stand firm in your perfection? Curse God and die.” There was a great aggravation to his suffering to see his wife fail; however, Job remained firm. It was terrible language torn from the lips of this woman, at Satan’s instigation, probably because she forgot to look to God. In fact, we do not know who she was and what her moral state was. This point is not part of the particular lessons that God places before us, and it is the only mention made of it in this book. “And he said to her, ‘You speak as one of the fools would speak.’ Here we find a remarkable measure of patience in Job’s words. He does not say, “You speak like a fool,” but simply, “as one of the foolish would speak.” It is well known that the word “foolish” has a morally evil meaning in Scripture. It is not a question of a weak intelligence, but of the worst moral depravity that seeks to suppress God and ignores his Word. However serious her language may be, Job does not accuse her of this iniquity, but tells her that she speaks like those who are such. “We have received good also from God, and we would not receive evil? In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” Satan had no other resource. Job had recognized God’s right to take everything he had and hit him himself from head to toe. It was obvious that Job was serving God at all costs.
But now a change is happening and a new test begins. It is necessary to observe this, not only because Job’s wife disappears from our sight, but even more strikingly, that Satan himself is now passed over in silence. We no longer hear a single word about him, he is completely defeated. It is an immense consolation for all those who are assailed by him to know that Satan never has victory, although he may achieve temporary successes. Whatever events we consider, Satan only ever triumphs for a moment.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
Second job test:
- Bad activity, general references
Pr 1:16 For their feet run to evil, and they are eager to shed blood. Isa 59:7 Their feet run to evil, and they are eager to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, the ravage and ruin are on their way. Rom 3:15 They have light feet to shed blood; 1 Pet 5.8 Be sober, watch. Your adversary, the devil, prowls like a roaring lion, looking for who he will devour.
- Value of Life in the Eyes of Christ
Mt 6:25 That is why I say to you: Do not worry for your life about what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will be clothed in. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Mt 10:31 So fear not: you are worth more than many passerines. Mt 16:25 For he who wants to save his life will lose it, but he who loses it because of me will find it. Lk 9:25 And what would be the point of a man gaining everyone, if he destroyed or lost himself?
- Lack of love, general references
Esa 29:20-21 For the violent will no longer be, the mocker will be finished, And all those who watched for iniquity will be exterminated, 21 Those who condemned others to justice, set traps for those who defended his cause at the door, and violated by fraud the rights of the innocent. Mt 7:4 Those who condemned others to justice, set traps for those who defended their cause at the door, and violated by fraud the rights of the innocent. John 1:46 Nathanael said to him: Can something good come from Nazareth? Philip replied: Come, and see. 1 Tim 6:4 he is swollen with pride, he knows nothing, and he has the sickness of idle questions and disputes of words, from which envy, quarrels, slander, bad suspicions are born,
- Divine hand on men to punish and discipline them
Ex 7:5 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I extend my hand over Egypt and bring the children of Israel out of their midst. Jb 2:10 But Job replied: You speak like a foolish woman. What! we receive good from God, and we would not also receive evil! In all this Job did not sin by his lips. Ps 32:4 For night and day your hand was resting over me, My vigor was no more than dryness, like that of summer. Acts 13:11 Now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, you will be blind, and for a time you will not see the sun. Immediately darkness and darkness fell on him, and he groped for people to guide him.
From all the above, we note that now God is bringing into the scene three men of weight, old, serious, worthy friends of Job and who deeply sympathized with him. Who could doubt that this would be the case? The description of their pain proves it. Nevertheless, it is here that the fall of the faithful Job begins, and we will see the picture unfold in the rest of the book. On the one hand, the theory of his friends misled them, on the other, Job clung to his integrity of which he was aware, until he was delivered from all occupation of himself to cling firmly to what God was to him, and not to what he had been or what he was. God loves His saints too much to allow them to ignore anything that is a dishonor to Him, or that hinders their full blessing. So He mercifully employs the trial, in order to accomplish this entire blessing. He also gives us the inexpressible consolation of knowing that it is Himself, not Satan, who forms and carries out any purpose. It is He, the God of all grace, who, in His perfect wisdom and righteousness, accomplishes what He wills, despite the terrible calamities that sin has caused and that Satan can unleash against his servants, with divine permission. These truths are gradually revealed to us in the following. Job must get to know himself, as he would never have thought or could have done otherwise. Knowing oneself is something quite different from conversion and it is indispensable for the complete blessing of our souls. Moreover, Job’s friends being the objects of the same grace as him, though far inferior to him, had to learn the same lessons. They were pious, but a man can be, without ever having been brought himself into the presence of God, that is, to learn to judge the self entirely, appreciating it according to the measure of God himself. This is what this book teaches us, as much as was possible before the coming of Christ. Satan then suggests that man would give up everything to keep himself. God abandons everything to him except the life of his servant. Satan strikes Job with an awful illness. Job submits to the hand of God, and recognizes all his rights. Satan had exhausted his means of harming Job, and we no longer hear of him. But it is beautiful to see that God has by this means completely justified Job with Satan’s accusations. Job was not a hypocrite. He had lost all the goods to which Satan attributed his piety, and this piety shone brighter than ever. Satan can denounce the motives that act in the flesh, the evil that is in the heart of man and that he himself excites, but the grace that is found in God, his love without cause, and the grace operating in the man who entrusts and rests in it, he can know neither the measure nor the power. Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow “Job’s Lament; Job cursed on the day of his birth; he would have liked to have been stillborn. (Job 3)
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.