Job XLI

 When God asked Satan if he’d considered His servant Job, Satan did not feign ignorance or insist he knew not of what God spoke. Not once, but on two occasions, we see that Satan is aware of those who cling to faith, who walk upright, and who serve God just as readily as he is about those who are his or those who pretend to be of the household of faith but are not.

If you are a true servant of God, then you have a target on your back. Satan is fully aware of your faithfulness, just as God is, but while one rejoices in your faithfulness, the other is scheming and plotting ways to shatter it and destroy it. Far too many believers are walking about today, not fully cognizant of the lengths to which the enemy of their soul will go in his attempts to stall their commitment to walking in the way or stifle the fire of their love for God.

Ignorance of the enemy and his devices will likely cause an individual to be taken by surprise when the attacks commence, especially if they’ve been sitting under teaching that does not allow for the possibility of being tested, tried, attacked, or targeted.

Awareness of our enemy and the plots he schemes is directly related to our spiritual maturity and understanding of the spiritual warfare in which we are bound to engage if we continue walking in faith and growing in God. Neither of my daughters was naturally aware that fire was dangerous when they were babies. They had to be told not to touch a hot stove or a hot skillet, and when they’d ask the inevitable why, either their mother or myself would sit down and explain it to them. Fire burns. It doesn’t matter whether or not you are aware of its effects, and it does not spare someone who stuck their hand in it out of ignorance. Having to contend with scars for the rest of your life is a high price to pay in order to learn that fire is not to be played with, but some individuals are unwilling to learn from the mistakes of others and have to prove it to themselves.

Mature believers, especially those in leadership, such as elders or pastors, have the duty to warn those who are babes in Christ of the dangers the enemy poses and instruct them to guard their hearts against his devices. Not doing so is not an oversight but a failure of their spiritual duty toward the body of Christ, and something that will not go unnoticed by God.

We act as though we’re trying to sell a timeshare when preaching Christ, as though we have to trick people into signing on the dotted line and becoming active members of something that would otherwise not be worth it were it not for the prettied-up presentation. We feel as though we need to add extra value to what is already the best, most generous offer we will run across in a thousand lifetimes, thinking that we are doing God a favor or that we’re the ones nudging the individual toward a commitment of some kind.

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Anything other than the Word of God may produce an emotional reaction, a temporary sense of remorse or regret of some kind, but it will not produce faith because faith can only come by hearing the Word. True conversion in Western nations is rarer than one might imagine for the simple fact that what is being preached from the pulpit today is not the Word of God, but the words of men made up to look like the Word of God, spoken with enough inflection and pregnant pauses that the newly initiated, or the outright ignorant can’t tell the difference between the two.

Although I’ve made this point repeatedly, some might even say excessively, I will make it anew: You must study to show yourself approved! You can’t outsource your knowledge of God’s word to another; you can’t hire an assistant to do it for you; it can’t be transferred to your heart via telekinesis or telepathy. You must sit with the word of God, read it, contemplate it, meditate upon it, let it feed you, take root in your heart, and nourish your faith.

Brother, tell me what I need to do to grow in God and deepen my faith. Read His word, pray, and spend time with Him. But I’m looking for a shortcut, something that won’t take up so much of my time. Isn’t there another way? No, there isn’t, and anyone who tells you differently is lying to you and, at some point in the future, will try to sell you some magic beans or a genie in a bottle.

It’s easy to focus solely on Job’s travails. All things being equal, it’s hard to look away. It’s like driving by a recent car crash on the other side of the road. You slow down, take a long look, make sure someone is there to help already, then close your eyes, breathe a sigh, and thank God it wasn’t you being extricated from a pile of twisted metal with the jaws of life.

We shouldn’t discount what Job suffered, but at the same time, as believers, we must focus on the perseverance of his faith and submission to God in all things far more readily than we would the loss of all things or the painful boils covering him from head to toe. Job’s reaction to all that befell him is a master class in placing one’s faith and trust in God and being unshakeable when it comes to the knowledge of His character. In order to endure what Job endured and come through it with your integrity intact, you must know the God you serve intimately and personally. Job hadn’t heard about God; he knew God. He hadn’t watched others worship Him; Job worshiped Him.

There is a tendency in our modern age to put men up on pedestals and think them spiritually superior, and there are plenty who take advantage of this esteem and make merchandise of those who see them with starry eyes and fluttering hearts. They lean into it and project an air of spirituality that they do not possess, doing such impeccable acting as to be worthy of an Oscar. As for the sheep, they come to believe that by giving a few shekels to someone whom they deem close to God, they themselves draw closer to God, not understanding that the only way to grow in God is to do it themselves.

You are not made righteous by another’s righteousness. You are not sanctified because someone you know or esteem is so. You’re not spiritually mature because you sit under the teaching of someone who is. There are no shortcuts, no cheat sheets, no mantras, no secret pathways, just a daily fellowship with God, spending time with Him, growing in Him, and learning to trust Him in all things. That’s how we get from where we are to having faith like Job. What many fail to understand is that such a faith isn’t optional for the believer but necessary in the days ahead.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.