Lord! ASAP_ Blog 3



Welcome to the Road2Wholeness Blog.  Thank you for stopping by. Today we continue in the blog series “Lord! ASAP”.  This is a series about prayer, and I’ve been featuring life changing conversations God had with unique characters from the Bible.  For this blog, we go to JOB, and we begin by looking at Chapter 1, Verse 6.

This is a conversation God is having with none other than Satan.  The scripture says, one day when the angels came to present themselves to the Lord, Satan also came.  The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”  Satan answers, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”  Then the Lord says to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job?  There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

The first thing that captures my attention is how much respect God shows to the devil.  It’s also worth noting that Satan showed up among angels.  It is clear that Satan is sure about who he is, but it is also clear that he is clear about who God is.  How many times as Christians do we shun opposition?  How many times do we disregard God’s use for the devil.  It is apparent in this conversation that Satan’s role is to challenge the people of God.  What He is really seeking to do is discredit the love between God and His people.  In order to do that, in this case, He presents a challenge.  Let’s also witness that Satan has combed the entire earth and hasn’t found anyone worth challenging.  This shows two things.  First, it shows that he is not seeking for the average person.  It also shows that Job was protected by God, and could not be seen by the devil.  Therefore, the idea of the blameless and upright being hedged in by God is confirmed here.  Yet, God opens Satan’s eyes to Job for the purpose of proving Satan wrong.

In verse 9- 11, Satan responds to God, “Does Job fear God for nothing?  Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has?  … But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

In verse 12, the Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”

After this conversation with God, Satan began to devastate Job’s life.  He loses his children, his livestock, and he is struck with physical ailments.  The book of Job carries on with a series of sentiments between Job’s closes friends and Job.  All of them testify to the truth about who God is.  Neither of them speaks negatively about God, but Job is convinced that God is angry with him. 

In Job 29, Job is recorded, “How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me, when his lamp shone on my head and by his light I walked through darkness.

In Job 30, Job laments, “I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me.  You turn on me ruthlessly; with the might of your hand you attack me.  You snatch me up and drive me before the wind; you toss me about in the storm.”

In Job 34:10, Elihu says “Listen to me, you men of understanding.  Far be it from God to do evil, from the Almighty to do wrong.”  Elihu is in fact right, and yet, he is suggesting that Job must be at fault for what he is facing in his life.

As the book continues, Job demands to face God.  He wants to state his case before God, and continues his laments.  The book does not state that God ever speaks to the Devil again, but eventually God comes before Job and corrects Job.

God never lets Job know of the great faith He placed in him.  He never reveals to Job why the strong turn in his life, but God reminds Job that he is not worthy of an explanation.  God goes into a list of glory and glorious things that He makes possible.

In Chapter 40, God responds to Job, “Would you discredit my justice?  … Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like his?  Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor, and clothe yourself in honor and majesty.  Unleash the fury of your wrath, look at all who are proud and bring them low, look at all who are proud and humble them, crush the wicked where they stand.  Bury them all in the dust together; shroud their faces in the grave.  Then I myself will admit to you that your own right hand can save you.”

In the end, God restore to Job all that his life is worthy of, and He commands Job to pray for his friends.  God rebukes his friends, saying to them, “You have not spoken the truth about me like my servant Job has.  My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly.”

Why folly??

These men only spoken about the goodness and the faithfulness of God.  Yet, God is not satisfied with their testimonies and orders Job to pray for them.  I find this powerful, and this ending is in keeping with the knowledge of God.  Although God does not bring Job in fully on the purpose for the trouble he underwent, God is certain not to leave these men who testified without personal experience and knowledge unchecked.  God absorbs all of Job’s frustration and misunderstanding of the situation and credits it to him as righteousness; for only God and the angels that were present for God’s infamous conversation with Satan knows the hands in which he was hand over to.

In the end God wins the challenge presented to him by the devil and Job is rewarded.  Therefore, my encouragement to you here is to stand firm and take up your position in times of challenge.  See that God may have chosen you in confidence and great faith to face the challenges you are facing.  Continue to believe in the overcoming power of the Living God, and remember the story of Job.

Remember to go within that you may never go without.  The God within you awaits you.  Until our paths collide again, I wish you.... Peace, Love, Life, and Complete Wholeness in Christ.


In service,


NaTisha Renee Williams

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