Daily Devotional

Please read Job 1. When we read Job with the proper spiritual insight, it reveals tremendously important things to us. We can catch a glimpse of the greatness and majesty of God. We see what we desperately need to see—that God is in charge and will always be in charge. If we are going to deal realistically with life, this is the way we must see God.
We sometimes hear that Job is the record of a great battleground between God and Satan, and that Job is caught in between. Though there are aspects of this in the book, is this not a strange war, in which one side must get permission from the other before it attacks? What kind of battle is that?
And yet that is the situation described here. In our text, Satan comes to God and asks permission to do something against Job. That’s not a battle, it’s a test. Satan is the one who brings it about but God permits it.
The thing Job tells us is that, if Satan could, we all would always be in this kind of difficulty. Satan would tear us apart all the time. But God’s protecting hand has been over us. If we enjoy any degree of peace and contentment, it is because the hand of God has been like a hedge about us, protecting us and giving us great and wonderful things. Therefore, our attitude ought to be, “Thank God for what I've got! Thank God for where I am now. What the future may hold, only He knows.”
If the future holds some kind of testing (it will), it is only because, as Paul has reminded us in I Corinthians 10:13, “He will not let you be tempted any more than you can take.” God will not put us to the test so severely that it will destroy our faith. But there are implications in every test that go far beyond the superficial aspects of the situation. That is what we need to remember.
When we are stretched by circumstances, we must learn to give thanks and rest in the enduring strength from the indwelling life of Christ.

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