Vince Deagler

hi out there.  spent some time in the book of job in recent days.  gonna wrap up our series on the biggest losers, by looking at his 3 friends who had a chance to come alongside job in an incredibly painful moment, and completely failed.  what’s worse is, not only did they offer no comfort, they actually piled on with judgementalism making the situation even worse.  even if they had been right in their evaluation, and they weren’t, they would still have been wrong.  this was a time to share in job’s suffering, to bear his burden with him.  it was not a time to kick him when he was down. 

but that is not what i want to focus on right now.  as the story begins, there are 2 moments described where satan and god have a conversation centered on job.  god’s perspective is job is a great example of what man can and should be.  satan’s perspective is: of course he is, but only b/c he has known only blessing in life.  satan asserts should god take his hand of protection and blessing off job, job would turn around and curse god.  and then it happens.  twice god gives satan permission (with limits) to attack job leaving him with virtually nothing.  he lost his wealth, his family, his health.  the rest of the story describes how he dealt with all of this, and how it all ended up better than when it started.

here is what i want you to chew on, what i have been chewing on, why would god allow satan to do this to job?doesn’t it seem unfair of god? job was one of the good guys, satan was up to no good, why would god play along? this line of questioning is not limited to the story of job. it has been around throughout human history, b/c throughout human history we humans have experienced evil. it is not a new question, and the story of job is not unique.

satan is referred to as the accuser of the brethren. he is said to be on the prowl, looking to devour us. he is described as an enemy/a thief who has come to steal, kill, and destroy. he buffeted paul with a thorn in his flesh. he filled the heart of annanias and saphira with deceit leading to their death. according to paul he is shooting fiery arrows at us. so satan accusing and attacking job is not new.

god allowing this to occur isn’t new. he allowed satan to tempt adam and eve in the garden. when they followed satan, the entire world was plunged into sin causing way more heartache, pain, and evil to be unleashed in the world than we see in the book of job. he allowed satan to attack paul, the church, even his son jesus. so why does this story trouble us?

i think there are a couple underlying reasons. first we have a built in sense of fairness. i would suggest, that like the rest of us, this sense of fairness has been skewed by sin. i can be way more objective as to what is fair in your life than i can when it comes to my life. when i am involved my sense of fairness is blurred by selfishness. tied to this is the notion that if we are righteous, god is obligated to bless us. we should only experience trials when we misbehave. this is exactly what job’s friends thought. hey job, since you are suffering, you must have sinned somewhere along the way, better confess that sin and only then will things return to normal. but job hadn’t sinned yet, he will, eventually as the trial persists. but in the beginning he was as righteous as a man could be. that fact simply adds to our discomfort with this story and brings us back to that nagging question…why?

here is what i’m thinking. and please understand i am not claiming to have an adaquate answer here. this question exposes our inability as finite human beings to understand an infinite god. if we can’t understand things on his level, and we can’t, then we are in no position to challange, question, or judge his actions. so, having said that, here goes.

i believe the most troubling aspect of the story for me is the conversation between god and satan where god gives permission for satan to attack job. now i’m not trying to minimize scripture or question its integrity. i believe these conversations actually happened. but i also think the reason it causes me to question god is b/c this is the only time we see a story like this in scripture. what if this conversation takes place regularly, but we are not given those stories? suppose that is how satan was able to attack paul with the thorn in the flesh. or annanias and saphira? maybe that’s how he attacks us? he is called the accuser of the brethren…who does he make those accusations to? we do have an advocate (a defense attorney) with the father…jesus christ the righteous one…against who does he argue?

i guess what i’m saying is, to me this story is kind of normal. ever since mankind left the garden we have lived in a world described in scripture as lying in the hand of the evil one. a world where satan is referred to as god. a world where he has blinded and enslaved humanity. sure god is sovereign. thus satan is limited. but the idea that god goes around giving satan permission to attack me…well i’m not sure we readily understand this if we only look at job. this permission, at least in my way of thinking, is implicit in the choice made in the garden to disobey god and follow satans lead. as paul said to the romans, to whomsoever you yield yourself, their servant you become. we became satans victims when we rebelled. he runs the show in this world, with the limits that god imposes on him. but from where i sit, those limits are vast. remember, god allowed satan to kill jesus. it was an integral part of his plan. just as the story of job. just as the story of vince, or greg, or mike, or ken, or mary, or diane, or karen, etc.

what i find helpful is to look at the whole story. david said god’s goodness and mercy followed him all the days of his life. i think that is true in job as well. god was with him the whole time. redeeming, restoring, reclaiming so that after satan had attacked to his fullest, at the end of the story of job , job was better off than at the beginning.

satan is real. he is up to no good. what he offers and what he delivers never reconcile. he is the ultimate con man. if we knew his intent, we would never follow. be warned, he wants to do to you, what he did to job. only he wants you to get angry, resentful, bitter. he wants you to lash out and blame god and others. he doesn’t want you to see it is him. but it is. and he certainly doesn’t want you to see god. but within the pain you will discover, if you look for him, god is there. his grace is sufficient. you can trust him. he wants to give us fullness of life. YEAH GOD! so instead of focusing on why would god do this, i focus on what i know to be true about god in the midst of a fallen broken world. i can come to him, depend on him, and he will never fail. wow.

thanks for reading. hope this makes sense to you. love to hear your questions and or comments. peace.