Job 2:7-10 (ESV)
So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.
Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
The power of Satan in our lives, only extends to the sovereignty of God over our lives. In the above verses we see the evil that Satan has brought upon Job, personally. In chapter one we saw his material possessions and his children taken from him, by the power of Satan. However, prior to that happening, God said:
And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
Those words gave Satan permission to go as far as he wanted with Job, yet, not touch Job himself. When that did not change Job’s faith in God, he came again before God to ask more “permissions” from God. Notice what God said to Satan’s second request:
And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.”
We have to wonder why God is allowing anything to happen to one of His favorite creatures (Job 1:1-2)? It is perplexing when we read about what Satan did with that permission he received from God! The entire rest of the book of Job is to try to answer that question: “Why God? Why would you allow such a thing?” Now God never actually answers the question. Not in all 42 chapters of the book. Job’s three friends are about to come to “comfort” him, but in their “comforting” attempts, they really attempt to “explain” why and only end up accusing Job of being a bad man. That is not comforting. As we read in the next few chapters, Job himself is suicidal as a result of these things. His mental health is completely deteriorated. Yet, the one thing we do see in all this, is that Satan, in all his power, is limited by God’s sovereign boundaries for Job. That is not reassuring to Job, not at first. In the end of the book, Job is justified, but will never see those seven boys and three daughters again on this earth. Yet, the truth is, no matter how bad it gets, no matter what Satan brings into the lives of a child of God, he is restrained by the boundaries of God’s sovereignty over us. This is why I love this quote from Octavious Winslow. From his book, “Christ’s Sympathy to Weary Christians:”
"It is I who formed your burden, who carved your cross, and who will strengthen you to bear it. It is I who mixed your cup of grief, and will enable you to drink it with meek submission to your Father's will ... I have sent all in love! (THUR) It is I who ordered, arranged, and controlled it all! In every stormy wind, in every darksome night, in every lonesome hour, in every rising fear, the voice of Jesus shall be heard, saying ' Be of good cheer. It is I; be not afraid.'"
God controls it all in love!
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