Thursday, January 3, 2013

How does God work with believers in light of Satan's plans for the world? Job 1-2



Job 1:12
Then the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord.

How does God work with believers in light of Satan's plans for the world?  In Job we see Satan wanting to attack Job for the purpose of proving to God that Job did not serve God out of love but out of "blessings."   Satan's argument to God was, in essence, "God has blessed Job and therefore Job is loyal ... remove the blessings and Job will curse God."    As the story unfolds we see God allowing Satan to take away the blessings; which will allow Satan to prove his point.   The subject of this section, however, is "how does God work His purposes and allow evil and Satan to have their moment?   In the subsequent verses we see that God allowed Satan to afflict Job's family and possessions by using a two corrupt groups (the Chaledens and the Sabeans); a fierce and destructive wind; and lighting from heaven.   Once the world fell into sin through Adam and Eve's disobedience the world became a death trap.  God allowed the "forces of evil" to "do their thing" and that inflicted pain and suffering on Job.  God, at times, removes His protection and allows evil to run it's course.   We know that God hates evil (Proverbs 15:26).   But, He will allow evil to do what evil does, to accomplish His purposes.   God wanted to show Satan that Job was loyal and loved God ... and, when we finish the story we will see that is what happens.   But, God can, and does, accomplish His purpose by allowing evil to do what it does when it is in the power of Satan's hands.   God just allows Satan to only have so much in his hands.   

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