Tag Archives: Satan

HOW NOT TO PLAY GOD – 1

Christian Life,

Playing God” is as rife within the body of Christ is as it is in the world outside the church. The methods may differ but the purpose is the same… control. Why do people everywhere want to control one another? My guess is that control is the way people try to manage their insecurity. “If I can control my family, my circumstances, my fellow human beings etc., I will feel more secure in my life in general.”

We see this phenomenon in churches where the pastor is the boss and where squabbles and factions break out among the leadership and the members. Real unity is impossible where people try to enforce their will on others in the body of Christ.

Trouble is, first, absolute control over everything that controls life is impossible. Second, our attempts to control clash with the next person’s efforts to control and the outcome is…war! Self-wills clash and get out of hand until destruction happens, and in society, even crime of every description.

Let’s examine the ways in which both God and His arch enemy exercise control. When we understand the principles of God and Satan’s methods, we can better identify the rule under which we live…and the ways in which we relate to our fellow humans.

First, Satan is insecure. He knows he is not God and never will be God but he still aspires to be God through deception. His passion is for the creatures God created and owns, to worship him. He must first convince them that they belong to him by enslaving them to his ways, and then by forcing them to acknowledge his ownership so that they will not be able to be free from his dominion.

Satan uses three methods to enslave and keep people in slavery to himself; intimidation, manipulation, and domination. He enforces his control by the lies he feeds into people’s beliefs. He operates first in the mind…

2 Corinthians 4:4 NLT
[4] “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.”

Satan’s entry point is the mind and, unfortunately, the mind is open to his lies because the nature of fallen man is in rebellion against God and is bent towards self and sin.

Satan’s modus operandi, then, is to sow beliefs in the mind to control the behaviour. Lies are his weapon of choice. He manipulates what we think and believe with lies, intimidates through threats and fear, and dominates by overwhelming us with sinful desires and by condemning us when we fail.

By contrast, God’s passion is for His human creation to worship Him by choice. He created the human race, He owns it by creation…

Psalms 24:1 NLT
[1] “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.”

… and by redeeming humanity from Satan’s clutches through the death of His Son.

John 3:16 NLT
[16] “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

He owns and bought us back from Satan’s control at a great price but the devil tries to deceive us into believing that we belong to him.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NLT
[19]”Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, [20] for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”

God set about reclaiming His lost possession, not by force but by revealing His nature of love through creation, and through the gift of His own Son to rescue the world from its self-inflicted destruction. He calls and draws us to believe and be transformed by the truth butv He leaves the initiative to respond to us.

James 4:8 NLT
[8] “Come close to God, and God will come close to you… “

John 6:44 NLT
[44] “For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up.”

Those whom the Father draws will believe in Jesus.

John 6:37, 39-40 NLT
[37] However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them…
[39] And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day. [40] For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.”

God’s way, then, is not to control by force but by revelation. He reveals Himself through His goodness…

Romans 2:4 NLT
[4] Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?”

… and draws people to Himself by His love.

1 John 4:9-10, 19 NLT
[9] “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. [10] This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins…
[19] We love (each other) because he loved us first.”

He even allows us to set the standards of our own judgment.

Matthew 7:1-2 NLT
[1] “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. [2] For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged”

God did not create human robots. He created humans in His own likeness, to be like Him, free to make choices, and responsible for the choices we make and their consequences.

When we try to enforce our will on others, we play the game Satan plays to control by messing with what they believe. Either by domination, or by intimidation or manipulation, we exercise illegitimate authority over others which God does not sanction.

What should we do?

First, we should recognise the difference between God’s way and Satan’s way. Satan’s method is based on lies. God’s way stands on the truth. Satan’s method is force. God’s method is choice. Our own way to lrad must be built on the truth, allowing others to choose.

Second, we should resist trying to enforce what we want on others, by leaning on the truth in every situation. Never may we override another’s right to choose. Provide options but never inflict your will on others.

Ephesians 5:21 NLT
[21] “And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

We should not use force even on our children. We should train them to submit and obey by choice because this is God’s way.

Ephesians 6:1-3 NLT
[1] “Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do. [2] “Honor your father and mother.” This is the first commandment with a promise: [3] If you honor your father and mother, “things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth.”

Ephesians 6:4 NLT
[4] “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.”

God’s way enlightens the mind with truth and draws people to Himself by persuading them of the truth, but….

The choice to believe or not to believe is still up to the individual.

Consider Jesus’ way…

Mark 10:17-22 NLT
[17]”As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” [18] “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good. [19] But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.’” [20] “Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.” [21] Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” [22] At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.”

When we follow God’s way, we are truly God’s children, living in His kingdom, and doing His will on earth.

To be continued…

THE DEVIL IS ATTACKING ME!

Bible Study, ,

This is what it seems butb it all depends on our perspective.

There is a trend within the church to believe that God and the devil are on equal footing, or so it seems by the way some Christains talk. They think that Satan sometimes has the upper hand and that we need God’s intervention to get him off our back.

What has the Bible to say about s
this situation?

Three stories come to mind, Job, Paul and the Gadarene demoniac.

The prologue to the story of Job’s suffering clears up the issue of who is in charge. Satan is fully and always under Almighty God’s authority.

Told in poetic language, Job’s story was one of severe suffering but only because God permitted the devil to test his integrity. Satan accused Job of being mercenary. “He only trusts you because you are good to him. Take away the blessings and he will turn on you,” he taunted.

We know the outcome. Despite Job’s questions and the cruel accusations of his so-called comforters, Job affirmed his trust in God even to death.

Job 13:15 NIV
[15]” Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him”…

God did not fault Job for being unrighteous. He lifted the issue much higher. “Where were you…?” Was Job ever on a par with God to question His ways? All Job’s questions and arguments were obliterated at the blast of God’s revelation of
power and glory. “No more questions, Job! I am not obligateded to you.”

God’s sovereignty over all creation including the spirit beings who serve Him is beyond question.

Hebrews 1:14 NLT
[14] “Therefore, angels are only servants—spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation.”

So, where does the devil fit into the picture? Does he attack and harass God’s children? Yes and no.

Yes, he does, according to Job’s story but only by permission. No, he is not permitted to harass and attack randomly. God uses him for His own purposes.

Paul’s story illustrates at least one purpose for his attacks.

2 Corinthians 12:6-7NLT
[6] “If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t do it, because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message, [7] even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.”

Paul was seriously tempted to be proud of the supernatural revelations he received that could have easily elevated him above fellow believers and even above his fellow apostles. He was constantly harassed by those who wanted to get rid of him as well as by the dangers and challenges of his mission. He identified the source of these hardships as Satan himself. Was he right or wrong?

God did not correct him.

Strange that Paul calls his trials a “messenger from Satan” and a “thorn in the flesh”. Did he recognise, on hindsight, what was happening to him?

Yes, it was, true that those who mistreated Paul did so at Satan’s instigation, but why did God allow this to happen? Was Paul harking back to God’s warning to the Israelites after they had conquered and taken possession of the Promised Land?

Judges 2:1-3 NLT
[1] “The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said to the Israelites, “I brought you out of Egypt into this land that I swore to give your ancestors, and I said I would never break my covenant with you. [2] For your part, you were not to make any covenants with the people living in this land; instead, you were to destroy their altars. But you disobeyed my command. Why did you do this? [3] So now I declare that I will no longer drive out the people living in your land. They will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a constant temptation to you.”

Paul understood that ungodly idolaters are those who elevate themselves above God, reject the truth about Him, refuse to worship Him, and set up their own gods in His place. They, in fact, take God’s place as God.

Proud people do the same in their attitude. They elevate themselves above God and become God by the way they live.

To God, this is so serious a situation that He permitted the devil to use his methods to keep His servant humble. Paul was surrounded by idolaters who hated God enough to pour their hatred out on him. No matter how much he prayed for deliverance from them, God said an emphatic, “No!”

God regarded Paul’s weakness and constant dependence on His grace of greater value than deliverance from his hardships. So, He allowed the attacks to keep coming because, as Paul realised, in this way, he would always be thrown on God for the strength to endure.

So, Paul could say,

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NLT
[9] “Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. [10] That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

The third issue is that of so-called “demon-possession”. There are many examples in the New Testament of Jesus delivering people from indwelling evil spirits. How can demonisation happen?

It seems to me that demons take occupation and control in a person who so persists in his or her sinful beviour that demons make their home in that person’s spirit. This is so serious that the demonised person can no longer make choices and decisions but is under the influence and control so completely that the demon acts through him or her.

This was the case of the Gadarene man that Jesus delivered from demons. This man gave his name as “Legion” because of the many demonic spirits in him. The story illustrates the motive of demons… to alienate and destroy.

The man was so violent that he was driven out of his community. He was continually mutilating himself. He was out of control. He was destined for a horrible death and a worse eternal destiny.

The story also illustrates Jesus’ absolute authority over demonic spirits and His power to restore the man to sanity and normality.

Mark 5:15 NLT
[15] “A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons. He was sitting there fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid.”

What do these records in Scripture teach us?

  1. God and Satan are not fighting on equal terms. God is sovereign in each and every situation in every human life. He orchestrates situations for His own purposes. He determines the boundaries in which Satan can act.

Job 1:8, 10-12 NLT
[8]” Then the Lord asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.”
[10]” You have always put a wall of protection around him and 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.”

  1. God knows and uses the devil’s work and his tactics for the good of His people.

Romans 8:28 NLT
[28]”And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

  1. God will use whatever it takes to keep His children humble and dependent on Him.

Paul’s thorn in the flesh is an example.

  1. Persistent sin is dangerous because it gives the devil a foothold in our lives. Only God’s power can break his hold on us when we repent and turn from evil. James 4:7-8 NLT
    [7] “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [8] Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.”
  2. God uses Satan’s work to destroy the hold fleshly desires have on believers. He turns suffering into salvation.

1 Peter 4:1 NIV
[1]”Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin.”

Suffering can turn us away from sinful behaviour if we allow it to do its work.

Psalms 32:3-4 NLT
[3] “When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. [4] Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.”

Paul instructed the Corinthians believers to hand an unrepentant member over to Satan.

1 Corinthians 5:1-5 NLT
[1]”I can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you—something that even pagans don’t do. I am told that a man in your church is living in sin with his stepmother. [2] You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame. And you should remove this man from your fellowship. [3] Even though I am not with you in person, I am with you in the Spirit. And as though I were there, I have already passed judgment on this man [4] in the name of the Lord Jesus. You must call a meeting of the church. I will be present with you in spirit, and so will the power of our Lord Jesus. [5] Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns.”

How important for us, then, to acknowledge God in all our hardships. He is at work, refining, purifying, and preparing us for our role in His eternal kingdom. We must never give credit to the devil what God is doing.

God is sovereign in every circumstance in our lives. Let us worship Him with gratitude that He has not abandoned us to our sin, that He is merciful and patient, and that He will finish what He started, recreating us in the image of His Son.

Spiritual Warfare – Conclusion

Apologetics, , , ,

CONCLUSION

The strategy of the enemy from the beginning was to lure people into believing that he is in charge; that he is Lord. He wants the attention and the worship and he will use every trick in the book to take the focus away from Jesus who in the only and true Lord.

He has convinced unbelievers that God is unreliable and to be feared and avoided at all costs. He has spawned all the false religions in the world as substitutes for the one true God because, in the end, in disguise he is getting the attention he wants by taking it away from Jesus.

Jesus made a fool of Satan through the cross by exposing his false claim to be Lord because He absorbed the worst that Satan could throw at Him and came back from the dead to show the world that He is Lord (Philippians 2:6-11) and that His way of love works.

.”And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross. Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11.

Our strategy in the world

The witness of Scripture in both the Old and the New Testament is that it is the proclamation and declaration of the truth that wins the victory. Satan flees when the truth is made known.

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.’…But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him.” 1 Corinthians 1:18, 19; 27-29.

God does not need prayer walks, pulling down strongholds, identifying principalities and powers over regions and countries and all that goes with it to save people. He ordained to do it through the foolishness of preaching the cross. The city of Ephesus was powerful proof that His strategy works.

God does not need our help to make the cross effective. He needs our worship and our obedience to do what Jesus commanded – follow me; go and make disciples.

Did the cross work?

There is no doubt that the cross worked. We are here as witnesses to the victory of Jesus, more than 2000 years after He died and rose again. Religions and philosophies come and go, but the church continues to live and grow in spite of every attempt to destroy it.

We have the assurance that Jesus will come again to dispose of the enemy and all those who choose to believe his lies, forever, and to set up His eternal kingdom on earth where He, together with His people, will rule and reign forever.

The role of the church is to proclaim that He is Lord and to worship Him, and never to give the devil even the time of the day! Whatever he may have to say, he is a liar and already defeated. Hallelujah!

His Last Chance

Bible Study, , ,

HIS LAST CHANCE

“As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. So Jesus told him, ‘What you are about to do, do quickly.’ But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor. As soon as Judas had taken the bread he went out, and it was night.” John 13:17-30 NIV.

 

What was it about that little piece of bread that tipped Judas over the edge? Jesus’ gesture was packed with meaning.

It was Middle Eastern custom for the two most honoured guests to sit on the right and left of the host. John would have been seated on Jesus’ right because he described himself as leaning on Jesus; resting on his left elbow and reclining on Jesus, leaving his right arm free to eat his meal. Judas was probably reclining on Jesus’ left, the other place of honour, because Jesus would have dipped morsel of bread into the common bowl of sauce and put it in Judas’ mouth. This gesture was the host’s way of expressing his greatest love and esteem for one of the guests at the table.

Why did Jesus choose Judas? Why not Peter; or John or one of the others? Did He love one disciple more than the others? I think Judas did not feel a part of the group. His guilty conscience alienated him from Jesus and from the other disciples. John knew that he was a thief; most probably so did the others. Jesus must surely have been aware of his dishonesty.

Was Jesus being hypocritical or did He have an ulterior motive? Not likely because it would have been completely out of character for Him to act underhandedly. I believe that in true “Jesus” style, He was reassuring Judas of His love no matter what he was planning to do, and giving him an opportunity to change his mind, even at the last minute. In spite of the prophecies about him, they were not set in stone.

Judas was as much a son as all the others in spite of his behaviour. It was up to him to come clean, confess his sinful attitude and behaviour, and become one of them again. By giving him the sop, Jesus was offering him the opportunity to reconnect with Him and with his fellow disciples. But how did Judas read the gesture? Would his hard heart be melted by it or hardened into a resolve to carry out his plan?

Jesus must have watched Judas’ face as He deliberately placed the bread in his mouth. There is no evidence that Judas refused it. This makes his action even more heinous. In that moment when he received Jesus’ act of pure love in spite of what he was planning to do, Satan clinched the deal by taking over his mind and his body. Judas had dabbled in the thoughts of the demonic realm for too long to back pedal. In that final instant Satan gave him no choice. He had him and he would not allow him to back out. The iron doors of his heard clanged shut and Satan was inside.

Jesus read the expression on his face — cold, hard and empty. ‘Okay, Judas, you’ve made your decision. Now get on and do it!’ Judas clearly read the grief in Jesus’ voice but he felt nothing. Pure love and pure hatred had collided at the table and Judas has chosen to side with hatred. His action would set in motion a chain of events in which the Son of God would receive and absorb in His own body the worst that humans and hell could do to a fellow human.

Was Judas caught in a web of destiny from which he could not escape? Was he predestined to be a traitor? If that were so, God would be responsible for his sin. No, Judas had chosen his path and had walked on it from the first moments when he stepped off the trail to go his own way and make his own rules. Satan gently lured him on until he had him in his grip and could simple step in and take over.

This should be a warning to us to beware of those first thoughts of rebellion and disobedience. Like Judas, we might be followers of Jesus but that does not immunize us against the devil’s deception. When we foolishly take the first steps on the wrong path, we have no idea where we will land. Our only safeguard is to stay close by our Master and to check every inclination against the infallible truth of His Word.

Why Are You A Believer?

Christian life, , , ,

WHY ARE YOU A BELIEVER?

INTRODUCTION

Start with 20 questions!

Which is the most misunderstood book in the Bible?

Have your read the book of Job?

What is “Job” about?

  1. 1.     BACKGROUND TO JOB

Job belongs to the genre – Wisdom Literature

Job not the author but the subject of the book. Written by an Israelite – he, not Job or his friends – uses the covenant name of God in the prologue and the epilogue.

When was the book written?

Two dates: When Job lived; some time during the time of the patriarchs –

  1. No mention of Israelite history
  2. Live for more than 100 years
  3. Wealth measured in livestock
  4. Acted as a priest in his family
  5. Sabean and Chaldean tribes fit into this period in history.

When the book was written about Job; probably at some time between the reigns of Solomon and Israel’s exile in Babylon.

What was the purpose of the author?

The author addressed the problem of suffering. Not intended to be a theological answer but a message to the godly who suffer and don’t know why.

The problem of suffering is an ongoing one typified by Job. He was a man who feared God and shunned evil (1:1) and yet he suffered terribly. If anyone had a reason to ask the question, “Why me?’ Job did.

The author’s purpose was not so much to contribute to the ongoing discussion but to speak to the godly sufferers who struggle with the crisis of faith their ongoing suffering produces. He is more of a pastor than a theologian.

  1. 2.     WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

Throughout history people have asked the same questions: Why do good people suffer? If God is almighty and God is good, how can He allow this to happen?

The world offer three possibilities:

  1. God is not almighty, after all,
  2. God is not just
  3. Humans may be innocent,

These three assumptions contradicted Job’s belief and that of his friends.

God is almighty; God is perfectly just and no human being is pure in His sight.

The only logical conclusion was that the person who suffered was guilty of sin and that the measure of his suffering was the measure of his guilt.

In their pain, the “wisdom” of the theologians does not answer their dilemma. Their so-called “wisdom” only seems to rub salt in their wounds and creates a stumbling block to faith.

How current is this situation? Preachers and well-meaning Christians glibly give the same arguments as the ancient theologians – God punishes those who sin; you are suffering therefore you must have sinned.

In Psalm 73 Asaph raised the same question: Why do the wicked prosper and godly suffer? Instead of theology providing an answer, it only increases the mystery. The sufferer is doubly wounded, by his circumstances and by the well-meaning responses of people who only drive the knife in deeper and increase the suffering, And for the godly sufferer God remains the biggest puzzle of all. How can God love me when He allows this to happen to me?

Instead of merely contributing to the theology of the day and adding his logical arguments, the author tells a story.

 

 

  1. 3.     ENTER A THIRD PARTY

 

Without the prologue (chapters 1 and 2), the dialogue between Job and his three friends would be a rehash of the age-old argument between theologians and the godly sufferer who were attempting to solve the “God problem” (is God just?) in the face of the “human problem” (they must be getting what they deserve),

The author adds a third party to the mix. The relationship between God and humans is not a closed one. Among His creatures is the great adversary. Since he cannot contend with God directly, he turns his attention to God’s creation who carries His image.

He began his assault on human beings in the Garden of Eden. Through his subtle deception he lured the first woman into believing that God had short-changed them. Instead of focussing on everything God had given them, he drew Eve’s attention to one thing God held back from them, their right to make their own rules, symbolised by eating fruit God said not to eat. He lured them by what he offered without telling them the consequences. Satan’s modus operandi becomes quite clear.

  1. Lure them into disobedience to God’s way,
  2. Then load them with guilt through his accusation and condemnation because they did wrong!

Eve was convinced by the devil’s deception. Adam stepped into rank disobedience.

The outcome was that they lost their oneness with God, their God-awareness and became selfishly, self-centredly self-aware, introducing a fundamental flaw into the nature of all mankind.

Satan’s all-consuming purpose was to drive a wedge between God and His beloved humans to bring about an irreconcilable rift between them.

In his story, the author describes the accuser’s bold attack on God and godly people in the special and intimate relationship that is dearest to them both. When God draws Satan’s attention to the righteousness of His beloved creature in whom He delights, he attempts to attack Job’s righteousness and show God up for a fool for trusting him.

He charges Job’s godliness as evil, calling him mercenary and self-serving. The very righteousness in which God delights is Job’s way of getting what he wants from God. Job’s so-called righteousness is nothing but the worst kind of heinous sin!

  1. 4.     SATAN’S ACCUSATION

If God will allow Satan to test Job by cutting the link between righteousness and blessing, he will expose Job and all righteous people as the frauds they are.

This is Satan’s ultimate challenge. He believes he has found the wedge he is looking for to cement the rift between God and man. The fact that humans are dependent on God for their lives and well-being, is the occasion for humankind’s greatest temptation – to love the gifts rather than the Giver, to please God for the benefits and to be righteous because it pays.

If Satan is right, then the very “righteousness” in which God delights is evil and creates a chasm between God and man that cannot be bridged. Even God’s plan of redemption is flawed because the righteous person is guilty of the worst sin and God can only sweep everything away in judgment. All of creation becomes irredeemable.

  1. 5.     GOD’S RESPONSE

Satan’s challenge cannot be ignored or silenced, nor even by destroying the accuser because it exposes the heart of creation and man’s place in it. God has to let Satan have his way with Job within limits so that both He and righteous Job can be vindicated and the accuser silenced.

Out of this contest comes Job’s anguish. He is robbed of every sign of God’s favour and He is silent so that He becomes the great enigma. In addition to that, Job’s so-called friends attack his righteousness according to their orthodox logic until Job feels abandoned and alone.

  1. 6.     JOB’S VINDICATION

In spite of his suffering and the agony of his apparent alienation from God, Job refuses to curse God and die. He may curse the day of his birth, complain bitterly of his lot and chide God for his unjust suffering but he refuses to renounce God, no matter what.

Job does not mourn the loss of his possessions – he focuses on God. ‘I thought I knew you,” he says in effect, “but I realise now that I know nothing. I repent in dust and ashes.”

In spite of his heinous accusation, the devil is silenced and Job is vindicated.

Not only is Job’s righteousness put to the test but also the highest of human wisdom. The best that his friends could come up with fell short of the truth. Neither their wisdom nor Job’s can fathom the truth of his situation, not even the brash “wisdom”’ of the young Elihu who thought he knew better than all of them!

God steps in when every other argument is stilled and every voice is silenced and there is nothing more to be said. He shows His displeasure with puny human wisdom by the way He approaches Job, not in a gentle whisper but by His dramatic entrance out of a ferocious storm!

God has given man the ability to understand creaturely things but he cannot learn the ways of God through the world of nature. Job 11:7 “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?”

“But where can wisdom be found? Where does understanding dwell?” Job 28:12. Job answers his own question from the mouth of God: “And He said to man, ‘The fear of the Lord – that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.’” Job 28;28.

  1. 7.     THE OUTCOME OF JOB’S TEST

Job passed the severest test any human being can undergo. God’s confidence in him was vindicated and Job could be trusted with material things because he had proved that he was trustworthy and did not worship God for things!

CONCLUSION

What can we learn from the story of Job? How relevant is his story for us today?

Job’s story is the answer to some of the pernicious deception in the church today. There are too many “believers” who are in it for what they can get out of it. When God does not give them what they are “believing for”, they walk away disillusioned because He did not make good on the promises preachers made on His behalf.

Abraham faced the same test and passed. God required of him what he treasured most in life – Isaac, his son. When he showed that he was willing to offer him as a sacrifice on the altar, God gave him back with the promise of multiplied blessing.

Why are we believers? Is it because some preacher offered us eternal life if we “accept Jesus as our personal Saviour” and all the benefits that go with that? Is it because we will go to heaven when we die?

If so, then Satan’s accusation is accurate and we fall into the category of those whose righteousness is phoney because it is empty of the “fear of the Lord”.

Jesus gave us the gift of righteousness He won by perfect and absolute commitment to the “fear of the Lord.” It is a gift that is of no use to us if we allow our old selfish nature to rule. It is not our decision to follow Jesus that counts but the evidence of a transformed life lived out in obedience to Christ and under the authority and control of the Holy Spirit.

“For if you live according to the sinful nature you will die; but if, by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” Romans 8:13,14.

Beware of preaching that is watered down to what God can do for you! What He does, He does for His glory and we happen to be the ones to whom and through whom His glory is revealed!

God has no qualms about putting us to the test to see whether our faith in Him is about us or about Him!