When I first read the book of Job, I thought Satan could attack me the way he did to Job. It was to make me fear God so that he would not allow Satan to harm me. But that is not the reason why the Holy Spirit wrote this book for us.
Most of what we read is about Job’s so-called friends telling Job he was being stricken by God because of his sinfulness and that he should repent and seek God’s forgiveness.
Job reaffirmed that he was sinning against God and was seeking God to give him an answer to justify the torment he was suffering. He also complained to his friends how they were not bringing any comfort to him but more grief.
What the Holy Spirit wants us to understand is found in the first 2 chapters which teaches why Job was being tested and the ending of the book when God explains himself and admonishes Job and rebukes his friends.
In the beginning, God asked Satan if he has considered his servant Job who He saw as a man who was blameless, and upright, who feared him and shunned evil.
Why did God ask Satan this? The name Satan means adversary or accuser and Satan accuses that man was not good which God said was good when he created him.
Satan is also our adversary because he has made war against God‘s children.
Revelation 12: 17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring--those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
To prove that man was not good, Satan said to God if Job lost all that God blessed him with Job would abandon him. God allowed it and Satan destroyed Job’s children and his wealth, but Job did not forsake God.
God asked Satan again to consider Job and Satan said to God if Job was stricken with a tormenting disease, he would abandon him. God said he could but do not kill him. After Satan struck Job with a tormenting disease Job still did not forsake God.
God foreknew that Job would never abandon him no matter what Satan did to him, but Satan did not.
God allowed Job to be tested to show Satan that it is possible for those who love him with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength would never forsake him.
Job’s steadfast love for God after Satan tormented him was a lesson for Satan to know he cannot accuse that all people will forsake their love for God even if their life and all they have in this world is taken from them. This is true of the saints we read in Revelations who will be martyred for not forsaking Jesus by taking the mark of beast and worshipping its image.
What sustained Job was the way he worshipped God after losing everything.
Job 1: 20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." 22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
When we believe that everything we have, even our breath belongs to God which we do not deserve, and it is up to God to give and take away, because he is a loving, merciful, and just God, it will make you thankfully praise him. We must also remember that our existence and everything we have comes from the mercy of our just God and not from what we desire or by our effort.
Romans 9: 14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." 16 It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.
We should not fear that God would allow Satan to test us the way he did with Job unless your righteousness is the same as Job, Moses and Daniel which God said their righteousness would save them.
Ezekiel 14: 13 "Son of man, if a country sins against me by being unfaithful and I stretch out my hand against it to cut off its food supply and send famine upon it and kill its men and their animals, 14 even if these three men-Noah, Daniel and Job-were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign LORD.
We should always be thankful to God that he would not allow us to be tempted by Satan beyond what we are capable of.
1 Corinthians 10: 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! 13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
We also learn the limitation God placed on Satan. He can only be in one place at one time because he can only roam the earth, he is not omni-present like God.
Satan is not all knowing, omniscient like God or he would have known Job would not abandon God.
Satan is not all powerful, omnipotent like God or he would not have needed to ask God for his permission to attack Job.
We must always hold on to this promise that Jesus has destroyed the works of the devil.
1 John 3: 8 He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.
Jesus has given us the word of God that destroys the lies of the devil. This does not mean we go around picking a fight with the devil or his demons which the book of Jude teaches to only rebuke them in the name of the Lord.
In the end God rebuked Job’s friends for assuming they knew his will for Job and told them to ask Job to pray for them so he would forgive them.
Then God admonished Job for thinking he had the right to ask him to justify why he was suffering when he was faithful to him.
Jesus teaches the attitude we must always have towards God.
Luke 17: 7 "Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? 8 Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? 9 Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything, you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'
As servants of God our duty is to serve him and not expect God to serve us. Jesus has shown us how we must serve and to love each.
The story of Job reveals what God’s justice, mercy and his will is for those who love him and to understand what Satan knows about man’s faithfulness to God and God’s authority over him and the ignorance of man knowing the mind of God.


In the book of Mark, it tells a story of how Jesus wants us to always be in season for him
Mark 11: 12 The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14 Then he said to the tree, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard him say it.
Mark 11: 20 In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. 21 Peter remembered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!"
Those who believe in the laws of nature may think it was unfair for Jesus to curse the fig tree when the tree was out of season for producing figs. But who was hungry? It was Jesus who Paul said in Colossians is the creator of everything. Who made the fig tree staff of Aaron sprout leaves and figs. The fig tree disobeyed its creator to bear him fruit, so Jesus cursed the tree and it died. Faith in Jesus is not dependent on the physical laws of the world. When your faith is mixed with worldly beliefs it will not bear fruit for Jesus because it doubts that all things are possible with God.
Mark 11: 22 "Have faith in God," Jesus answered. 23 "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
When we ask anything that is God’s will at any time, we can believe we have already received it and know it is ours because of the righteousness of Jesus that made it possible.
This is true also with preaching God’s word it is not seasonal.
2 Timothy 4: 2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
We must always be prepared to preach the Word to strengthen and encourage the body of Christ because we are in the time of false teachers and those who want to hear only what their itching ears want and not God’s truth that will protect them from wandering away from Jesus and their salvation.
Be safe in Jesus. Ps Glenn