I wonder sometimes what it would be like to have the same perspective our Lord has on this world. In the introduction to Job we take a heaven's-eye view and see Job's righteousness, his concern for his children, the cause of the destruction of his family and property, and the beginning of Job's reaction. Of course, it would be incredibly painful to truly see things as our Lord sees them. But it is incredibly painful for our Lord and Savior to see the plight of mankind. Man's offenses before the holy God invoke God's righteous wrath. He is not called "longsuffering" for nothing. Knowing what we know of Job's situation leads us to view his actions and the actions of his comforters quite differently.
What is Job's concern? He is above all concerned that his family may be a godly family. He makes sacrifice on their behalf in case they have sinned. He is faithful to God in all he does. Job is quite the righteous person.
What is Satan's goal? He thinks Job serves God because of all the blessings God has poured out on Job. His desire is to lie, kill, destroy, and steal. Yet he is unable to do so without God's permission. Luther famously said that Satan is God's devil. He may think he is doing his own will but in reality he is restrained by the Holy Spirit. He is unable to harm God's chosen people. He is harmful, no doubt, but we may think of him as a ferocious dog on a chain. As long as we are out of range we are perfectly safe.
What is God doing here? We can't speak for God. He doesn't say specifically. Yet it seems fairly clear that among other hings he is showing Satan that Job is faithful regardless of tribulation. He is probably showing Job something about where his sufficiency lies. We don't know how many other things God is doing in the book of Job. Let it suffice to say that he is very active.
What does all this have to do with us? When we receive blessings or challenges do we respond like Job, in faith? Do we rather respond like selfish fallen people who really want our own way? I've been in some challenging situations lately and I can tell you my tendency has been to respond in faithlessness. I don't want to trust God. I want to go ahead about things my own way. I want to despair. I endure hardship and I want to lash out to people and make them feel some hardship too. It seems this is one of the most common responses people have to hardship. How about when it comes to blessings? When we receive God's blessing do we treat it as a blessing from God or do we treat it as something we deserve? Do we say it's about time our Lord recognized we were people he wanted to bless? Do we then complain because someone else seems to have a blessing we would like?
We all fall into temptation, whether in easy times or difficult times. May we, like Job, look to our Lord and Savior. May we confess that the Lord's name is blessed forever.
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