Job 1:12 says, And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. Trials of this life are very difficult to understand. It is not unusual to hear someone ask Why me? Aside from all of the cliche answers, there are some Scriptural considerations that must be weighed. Here, in Job 1 and again in Job 2, there is at least some explanation. Satan desires to afflict Gods people. In both chapters, our great enemy asked for and was granted permission to afflict Job. The first affliction was to involve only the things and people Job loved. The second was to involve his person. Through it all, Job was to lose everything that he owned and even his health. But there is also a great encouragement that we can take away from these passages. Notice, the LORD forbid Satan to go beyond a certain point. God, in other words, holds Satans leash. He could go so far, and no further. When we are tried, we must remember that God has a purpose in the trying. It may be that He needs to take away something precious so that we can learn that our most valued possession is not a thing we can hold in our hands, or even people we can clutch in our arms, but our salvation. He may need to relieve us of something that has become a distraction or has taken a higher priority than Him, so that we can refocus our lives where they belong, on loving our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves. It may be needful for Him to allow our health to be taken away so that we see our utter dependence upon Him in the everyday. Now, do not misunderstand. I am not saying that every loved one lost is the result of God trying to teach us something, or that every crisis of life is for these reasons. It would be presumptive to assume such a thing. Ultimately, we do not know why things happen. What we do know is that everything happens for a reason. There is Divine purpose in all things. We also know that God never, even for a moment, cedes His control of the events of our lives to anyone: not to us, not to this world, or its ruler, Satan. He may ALLOW Satan to have his way, but God is still in control. Have you considered this truth today? If not, then ponder on these things. Our God is a Sovereign, who reigns over this universe. He has declared the end from the beginning, and His holy will shall ultimately be brought to pass. He is not surprised by anything that happens in your life or mine. Therefore, we must submit ourselves to His will and yield to His purpose. We ought to seek His purpose in all things, and when we cannot find the answer, trust that the One who knows the answer is still in control. Seek Him by prayer, this day, and trust His sovereign purpose, even when you cannot see it.
Posted on: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 14:32:04 +0000
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