Job XXXII

 There’s a reason Isaiah analogized the enemy coming in like a flood and not like a pipe leak. Granted, they didn’t have pipes during the time of Isaiah’s writing, but they did have water skins, and they did leak sometimes, so if he’d not intended to use such a devastatingly graphic analogy, he could have found something else to compare the enemy’s attacks to.

As far as Job’s life was concerned, the enemy had come in like a flood. Everything had been churned beneath the waters, upended and soiled, until he himself remained untouched, but the devil had a plan for that, too.

Since we’ve become an overly sensitive brood of late, actively seeking something to take offense at, trigger warning, the following may be uncomfortable to ponder: the enemy’s attacks on your individual person are proportionate to your level of spiritual maturity, at least as far as he can gauge. He won’t use a rocket launcher to take out a molehill if a solid boot heel will do the job.

Some actively brag about being left alone by the devil. They revel in the thought that their faith has not been tested and that they’ve never gone through trials of any noteworthy ferocity, not realizing that there is a reason the enemy is leaving them be, and it’s because they pose no threat to him and his plans.

Satan seeks to shake people’s faith in God. If the people in question have no faith to begin with, why bother? The enemy seeks to undermine one’s steadfastness and confidence in God’s providence, to cause doubt to seep into their hearts, and take their eyes off the things above, but if they’re already in that condition to begin with, if they’re already compromised, deceived, easily swayed, and wholly focused on the things of this earth, why try to fix something that’s not broken?

There is the general malaise sweeping the earth and general hardships that most go through, such as not having enough to pay bills or put food on their tables; then there are the targeted attacks against God’s faithful, the persecutions and hardships especially tailored for them.

Because of the things God had said about Job, singling him out as being a man apart, he knew that Job would not be easily rattled, and so went in like a flood, sparing none of Job’s children or possessions. Even so, Job remained steadfast and faithful, neither sinning nor finding fault with God.

Satan had lost the first round, and he knew it. It wasn’t a draw; it wasn’t even close to needing a judge’s decision on who came out the winner in this battle. Satan landed punch after punch that would have felled any other opponent, but Job still stood—bruised, hurting, battered, heartbroken, but still standing.

Now it was time for round two, and though he’d lost the first round, Satan was no less enthusiastic about trying again. It seems as though it’s the one lesson we’re slow to learn about the devil and his minions. Failure does not seem to bother or affect them. It emboldens them. If they fail once, they dust themselves off and try again and again, and because we’re busy celebrating our first-round win, oftentimes, the enemy gets a sucker punch in when we least expect it. Just because we’ve won a battle, it doesn’t mean we’ve won the war. While the war is still raging around you, although a battle has been won, keep your armor on and your sword sharp because another battle is a matter of when and not if.

Job 2:7-9, “So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of ashes. Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!”’

There’s nothing like the love of a good woman to lift you up when you’re feeling down. In order to understand the true depth of Satan’s nefarious nature and the perversity of his plots and schemes, one need look no further than what he did to Job. He took away every person who could offer him encouragement or a shoulder to cry on and left his wife alone and unharmed, whose one piece of advice is to get it over with. There was no “we’ll get through this together,” no “God’s ways are not our ways”; she didn’t sit in the ashes next to him and try to console him; she looked down on her husband, the father of her children, the man she’d made a life with and not only questioned why he still held to his integrity but insisted that he should curse God and die.

These thoughts were not of her own making, but the enemy was speaking through her as surely as day gives way to night. It’s another lesson from the life of Job we would do well to learn because the enemy will use those around us to attempt to dishearten us and abandon our hope in the sovereignty of the God we serve.

If you’ve ever asked a friend, an elder, a spouse, or a relative for advice while you’re going through a trial, and the advice they give you is antithetical to what Scripture prescribes, reject it because, at the moment, it’s not them speaking it’s the enemy speaking through them.

“Brother, I’m barely hanging on. It’s hard, and I find myself running to God every morning, every night, and throughout the day just to keep my head above water.”

“Well, then just give up! Let go, and let the waters drag you to the deep.”

“Huh? But the Word tells me to persevere, to endure, to trust that God knows, and sees, and has made a way for me.”

“Well, yeah, but you could also do the other thing.”

I don’t know which would hurt more. To be covered in painful boils from the soles of my feet to the crown of my head, sitting in the midst of ashes, scratching myself with a potsherd, or hearing my wife tell me I should pack it in, give up, curse God, and die.

Whenever a loved one is going through a trial, make sure that the counsel you give them is Biblical counsel. If it isn’t, it is better to keep silent and give no counsel at all. They’re already hurting; there’s no need to add to the hurt. They’re barely hanging on, and you trying to kick at their fingers and encouraging them to let go of hope is neither loving nor godly.   

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.