OT: The Book of Job, Chapter 1

Job 1:1-22

Satan did to Job exactly what he did to Eve in the garden, but this time, he did it behind the scenes. Satan doesn't believe in love. He continues to doubt that anyone would love God if they had another choice. If we consider a lot of the world, we might think he was right. But it only takes one person to disprove his theory. In this book, that one person is represented by Job.

Job was a man who lived in a place called Uz. Uz stood for "wooded," in other words, it stood for wilderness. Job lived within the exact place we all live in: the wilderness of life on earth, life temporarily separate from the kingdom of God. Yet even in the midst of the wilderness, Job was happy. Job was blessed. Job loved God. Satan believed that Job's love for God was dependent on his blessings. Satan did not believe that a person would love God without God having to purchase their love. He did not believe in authenticity.

In the Garden of Eden, Satan did not believe that Adam and Eve had an authentic love for God. He believed they loved God because they didn't know better. Satan believed Job loved God because it profited him to love God. Satan's experiment on the earth is essentially to disprove true love. Our life and relationship with God is an opportunity to disprove Satan's hypothesis. 

The Book of Job calls us to question: is our love for God real? Is it greedy? Do we love who He is or do we love what He does for us? To trust God throughout our life is to allow the circumstances of our life to refine our character and strengthen our relationship with God. We must create genuine relationships with God, relationships that are not dependent on receiving. God trusts us to be productive with our life. Satan temps us to doubt the One who trusts us. 

Ultimately Job represents humanity, just as Adam and Eve represent humanity. Satan keeps trying to convince individuals out of faith. Satan asks us:

If you knew better, would you still love Him? 

He asks us: If you don't get everything you want, will you still love him? 

Job answered "yes" to both questions. Satan answered "no."

We read more about Satan in Ezekiel 28:11-19. Satan was like Job. He was like Adam and Eve. His life was perfect. He was blessed, loved and trusted by God. But Satan did not love God; he placed his lust for power over his love for God. He wanted (wants) to be God, replace God. He used everything God gave him to build himself but deconstruct the kingdom. In order to accomplish his mission, he endeavors to deconstruct the faith of the people who love God. He tries to fracture it with doubt, fear and temptation. 

Despite being heavily burdened, Job truly loved God. He did not like his circumstances; he did not understand them, he certainly did not deserve them. But true love persists amidst confusion, it perseveres through pain when the object of love is worthy.  Our God is worthy.

The Bible teaches us that God has purpose and plan for each of our lives. All things work for the good of those who love the Lord. Tribulation is a form of discipline, refinement. But in the book of Job, none of that is the case for Job. Satan had a plan for Job's life but Job's faith rejected it. Job's name means "persecuted" and he was, just like Jesus. And just like Jesus, the persecution did not affect his relationship with God. 

1:1-3 Job was a man whose faith yielded a blessed life. He was obedient to God; he submitted to the will of God, and because of that, he planted good seed. He allowed God to lead him into blessing and abundance. He appreciated what he was given, he allowed God to instruct him on how to maintain what he was given, and therefore he became the most successful man in his region. 

Notice that the book first opens with mention of Job's faith. His faith comes before his possessions. Right in the introduction of the chapter we learn that because Job had faith, Job had a blessed life. Job did not develop love for God after receiving his blessings, he developed blessings because of his love for God. 

1:4 Job raised his children to love God and to be a righteous, compassionate family. They were close and generous with each other. They ate and celebrated together; they valued their time together and appreciated their blessings together. After every gathering, Job would thank God and pray for his children. 

1:5 Job was realistic: he had a big, happy family but nobody is perfect and therefore he knew that his children had likely, at some point, sinned. Job repented for the ways his children might have offended God. It would have been easy for Job to take his life for granted but he never did. He was equal parts grateful and repentant and reverent. The moments of joy and abundance reminded him of God's goodness, rather than distracted him from it. It was important to Job that God "regularly" knew he was thankful and aware that it was a gift they were probably unworthy of.

1:6-7 One day, several souls came to God and Satan was among them. Apparently, Satan had been away because God asked him where he had been. Satan confessed that he had been walking around the earth. 

1:8 God already knew where Satan had been, but wanted Satan to explain his observations of where he had been (that is, earth). Satan was looking for evidence to prove that people did not, would not, steadfastly love God. Likely he found a few examples. But God knew of a man who did love Him, and who would love Him no matter what: Job.

1:9-11 Job disproved Satan's theory and that annoyed him. So Satan answered contemptuously; he told God that Job only loved God because God had given him many blessings. Satan challenged Job's faith: he believed that Job would not love God if all of his blessings were taken away. In fact, Satan believed that Job would hate and curse God if all of his blessings were taken away.

Consider Satan's mindset: He cannot conceive of unconditional love. He does not understand or value anything that does not directly benefit him. His viewpoint is in direct opposition to God's viewpoint. God loves us knowing that we can never give Him anything in return except love.

1:12 God gave Satan permission to take away all of Job's possessions.

Luckily for you and I, Satan did not receive such permission from God over our lives. But we did learn that Satan likes to walk around the earth looking for weak faith. Imagine if God and Satan were in a room together looking at you. You would want God to have complete faith in your love for Him. You would want to be one of the souls who disproved Satan's theory. 

With permission to experiment, Satan eagerly left to do his worst to Job. Consider that life is a more diluted version of Satan's experiment. Every time we trust God, we disprove Satan. Every time one of God's children chooses love over doubt, humility over arrogance, selflessness over greed, we reprove Satan. 

1:13-19 Suddenly Job's whole life changed. He started to lose everything, everyone. Remember, it was not God who was testing Job. It was Satan who was testing Job. God was trusting Job; God was not insecure. He was confident in Job's love and did not need to test it. 

After a quick succession of emergencies, Job's once abundant life became desolate. He had the most in the region; suddenly he had the least. How did Job respond to such despair?

1:20 He fell to the ground and worshiped.

Job's first response was humility and gratitude to God. Even when he had nothing, Job was still grateful to God! Incredible. Job responded well and faithfully to his desperation, but he misinterpreted it. 

1:21 Job thought God had taken away his blessing. It was Job's first mistake and one that would cause him a lot of torment. Because Job thought God had taken his blessings away, he spent a lot of his life wondering why. If only Job knew that God does not take away blessings from His children. 

God's children sometimes neglect their blessings.

God's children sometimes forfeit their blessings.

God's children sometimes waste their blessings.

But God's righteous children never have their blessings taken away as punishment. Job's life until that point had God's fingerprints all over it. But Job's life, after losing everything, had Satan's fingerprints all over it. Job misinterpreted the work of Satan as the work of God. 

Side note: It's important to realize that Satan is not always responsible for desolation in our lives or in the world. Satan represents a world-view, a way of life that is greedy, selfish, unjust, and deceitful. Sometimes we lose things because we neglected them. Sometimes we do not receive things because we have not worked to be responsible enough to have them. But Job's account of loss is a particular lesson in love. Do you love God, or anyone, because of what they can do for you? That is not love.  

Job misinterpreted the reason for his suffering, he wrongly identified the entity behind it. Despite that, He loved God. He loved God enough though he thought God had taken so much away from him. He loved God because he knew Who God was. He knew what God stood for. Do you love God for Who He is? Do you find Him just, inspiring, and kind? Or do you foster a relationship with Him simply to have someone to ask for things from?

1:22 Job grieved, but he never cursed God. He did not understand; he did not think it was fair, still he did not yell at God. He did not argue with, what he thought, was God's choice. Even then, he trusted God: for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer.

Your relationship with God is a union, a covenant, a marriage and it will be as strong as your faith.