The Book of Job Helps Me to Be Thankful That God Has a Perfect Purpose for Letting Satan Do What He Does
I remembered how Job's thankfulness for his disasters actually disgusted me (at first) because I found the idea of thanking God even for the bad times humanly foolish. Psalm 34 feels like it's humanly foolish. If God is so good then why does He let bad things happen all because of the sin of Adam and Eve? Then there's the Book of Job. The first chapter reads Satan's encounter with Job.
Job 1:6-12
6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? 10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. 11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.
What can be seen is that Satan causes trouble but he must first get God's permission. Satan goes to falsely accuse Job before God. I'm amazed at how Satan himself assumes like he knows what's in God's mind. Satan feels like he knows better than God. What did God just do? God decided to give Satan permission to harm Job in every way except take the latter's life. That idea (at first) just sounded foolish to me that God would give Satan permission to do so.
But what we read next is that Job acknowledged that God gives and takes away. In Job 2, Job tells his wife that God gives both good and evil for a reason. I was thinking about why God allows me to suffer in any little way or to suffer losses. Reading through Job all over again can also make you realize Job had some degree of self-righteousness. Job may be one of the most righteous people but self-righteousness even in the slightest can ruin anyone. Job was probably unaware that he had self-righteousness to deal with. I even feel that self-righteousness is one sin that's harder to avoid than murder and adultery combined. Sure, one can resist temptations to sexual immorality or temptation to murder but is it easy not to avoid self-righteousness? Why is it not easy to avoid self-righteousness? It's because hatred is already breaking the standards for murder and lustful thoughts towards the opposite gender is breaking the standards for adultery. Nobody is ever exempt from sin and maybe, that's what Job needed to learn. God gave Satan special permission in order to set Job straight!
This also makes me think about what Paul said in 2nd Corinthians 12:7-10 the following:
7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. 8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 9 And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
Paul may have had Job in mind when he mentioned that in writing his letter. Paul was having some problem which he termed "thorn in the flesh". What was the purpose of the thorn in the flesh and that messenger of Satan? God gave this messenger of Satan permission to hurt Paul. The purpose as Paul mention is to work in avoiding the sin of pride (which Job wasn't aware he had. Paul also mentioned taking pleasures in affliction for the sake of Christ, seeing that his weakness can be used to magnify God's great power. I remembered being told that if God made me weak that He had a purpose. I felt offended hearing that. However, reading the verse, I decided to see that if God made me strong and seemingly perfect then I'm going to be prone to the sin of pride. Instead, God had a purpose for allowing bad things to happen and letting Satan run free to keep His elect humble, alert, and more importantly not straying away from a path of non-compromise like when Jehoshaphat suffered losses to keep him away from the House of Ahab.
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