Job
Job was a man of remarkable character.
He was a rich man, who had 500 yoke oxen, 1500 female donkeys, 7000 sheep and
3000 camels. Nobody was like him for
being .wealthy, fear of God, righteous, blameless and for loving his children
and every member of the family. See Job 1:1-5.
Seeing his righteous, Satan was trying
to find fault in him. So, once a time, Satan came before God. At that he had
access. So, when God saw him, He asked him if Job is faithful to Him. This time,
he told God, saying that Job is good because you blessed him. Satan also
suggested if He takes away every possession, he would curse Him. Satan suggested this idea, so that God would
test Job. This time, God put everything
Job had under Satan’s power. Thereby; Job
lost all his property. His sons and daughters were also killed by a great
tornado while they were having a great party in their house. When all this
happened, Job was sorry, but never charged God with wrong. See Job 1:13-22. Satan was not pleased in this.
Another time, God saw Satan in Heaven, after
Job lost everything. This time, He asked him, if there is something wrong with
the faith of Job. When he got a chance, Satan suggested to God, if he has a
hard time, he would curse Him. Then, God giving power to Satan, but warning him
not take his life, He told him to go. With the given power, Satan attacked the
entire body of Job with boils. See Job 2:7-8 and 30:30.
When Job was sick, his wife told him to
curse God. Job refused to make sin with his lips. His friends, Elipaz , Bildad and Zophar also came to comfort him. They were sorry,
when they saw the painful body of Job. See Job 2:11-13.
Above, you have seen that Satan had an
access in the Old Testament to stand as a Heavenly Council in front of God, and
he had also a special authority to investigate affairs on earth. See Zachariah
3:1-2.
Moreover; once upon a time, Joshua, the
High Priest, was standing in front of the angel of the Lord. Satan, also
standing at Joshua’s right hand side, was ready to accuse Joshua. When he
opened his mouth, the Lord said:” Satan you are wrong. Jerusalem is my
city. This man is also mine. He was
rescued like a stick from a flaming fire.
When Joshua was standing, his clothes were filthy. So, the angel
told some of the people to remove Joshua’s filthy clothes. God forgave his sin. He dressed him with
priestly clothes. See Zech. 3:1-4. Now
in the New Testament, Satan is powerless.
Satan, the accuser of brothers is over
thrown from Heaven. So, in the New Testament, he has no access to accuse brothers,
but still he is still deceiving brothers.
In the New Testament, Jesus died for humanity to break the power
of Satan, who had the power of death. Jesus has destroyed death. See Revelation 12:10, Hebrew 2:14 and 2nd
Timothy 1:10 respectively.
There
is solution when Satan attacks a believer. We learn a lot from the richest and righteous
man who was called Job. Living in the Old Testament in the Near East, Job is a model example to learn patience in times of adversity.
According to the principle of Job, when one is attacked by
Satan to control lips and refrain from speaking against God is the formula to
win the war against evil spirit. This
principle still works in the New Testament. Death and life is in the
tongue. So, like that of the Old
Testament, in the New Testament as well, one should not open his mouth to speak
against God, when he passes from one problem to the other.
Speaking
against God is a deadly sin. In times
adversity, instead of speaking against God, pick up the helmet of salvation, read
the word of God and pray without ceasing and with supplication. See Eph. 6:17-18.
According
to the Book of Proverb 1:7, fear of God is the beginning of Knowledge.
Righteousness is also the beginning of salvation. So, when one receives
salvation, he must be aware to do well is right, because God has done a good
thing for him.
Moreover;
after salvation, a believer should never become idle. This instruction boils
down to the era of the New
Testament. In this period, unless
otherwise; one testifies what the Lord has done for him and also about His goodness,
he should never has been a believer in the first place. Besides that, one should also note that, in times of adversity
and persecution he must be patient focusing on the Lord, waiting for his salvation.
Thus, for the kind of remarkable
believer, brothers must pray for him, encourage him, appreciate him and praise him,
so that he would endure suffering and persecution for the sake of the Lord. See James 5:10.
God
that kept Heavenly mysterious secrets from the beginning revealed to Job wisdom
and patience. Due to that, he became a model example. Do you remember how patient Job was and how
much the Lord helped him? The Lord has
shown His mercy, peace, grace and kindness for Job when he passes though lots
of catastrophes. Source James 5:11.
Consequently,
therefore; we learn a lot from Job, because he suffered without losing faith. Since Job is known for his excellence of
patience/ or paragon of patience,/ in
the history of mankind, taking time and waiting for the Lord in times of adversity, becoming strong in his faith, Job has become a model example for all
times.
Even
though; Satan took away his prosperity and killed his kids, his intention was
to destroy his faith. Unlike the idea of
Satan, however; all lose did not shake the faith of Job. Rather, when all things
and children were taken away, he only said:”Yahweh
gives. Yahweh takes away. Blessed be the name of Yahweh.” See Job 1:21.
When Job
did not murmur and his intrigue failed, Satan proposed to God, to strike him
with severe sores from his head to his feet. Though, God gave him the
permission, to strike him with boils, ignoring
his wife’s suggestion to open his mouth and curse God, he was sitting alone in the city.
The fact
that Job spoke nothing against the Lord is a good lesson for us. Suppose now; if we are attacked by the evil, there is nothing we can
do, except: a) praying without ceasing,
b) proclaiming and declaring that no
weapon formed against him shall prosper.” See Isaiah 54:17.
And yet, if one is still under attack; he must
still continue to praise the Lord,
serve the Lord, worship the Lord, sing for the Lord, and dance for the Lord and
continue paying tithes and offerings to the House of God.
The attack of Satan never comes to
an end until Jesus comes for the 2nd time, and yet, if he still continues to attack you, there is no
need to get to be desperate, get angry, feel worry or feel depression, because
if one is depressed, he would first lose the battle and then the war of
fighting. Wave comes and wave goes way, so does the attack of Satan. It comes in and it goes away. So, in all occasions
the believer has to stay firm in his faith, win the war. What else can we say when we have nothing
more to add.
Consequently, therefore; whenever;
you are under attack, rejoice in the Lord. This helps for the growth of your
faith. Remember that, to be glad in the Lord is a necessary ingredient for your
joyful survival. See Phil. 4:4. When
your faith in the Lord grows, you come to maturity. Therefore; in all seasons,
bright days and gloomy nights, weeks and months, you should meditate the word,
so that you would have a wonderful relationship with the Lord.
