Satan and Job

 BY Argie Simonis

The story of Job is very interesting and full of lessons for us. Job was a godly man and enjoyed God's blessings, until the devil stepped in:

"And the LORD said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that fears God, and eschews evil?

Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? 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. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.

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."

Job 1:9-12 

Many believe that the Lord started this whole conflict. They think the devil wouldn't have even noticed Job if God hadn't pointed it out to him. In fact, I believe the exact opposite happened in this case. The Lord knew that the devil was looking for someone to devour and that Job became his target. All the Lord did was bring it to the light:

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."

1 Peter 5:8 

And yet most interpret this verse to mean that the Lord gave permission to the devil to afflict Job. But what really happened was that the Lord revealed that everything Job had was already in the power of satan. The devil was the god of this world, because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve, and the ruler of the power of the air:

"in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."

2 Corinthians 4:4 

"wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:"

Ephesians 2:2 

Job did not live under the New Testament grace that we live in today and was by nature a slave to the devil:

"and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." 

Ephesians 2:3 

The fact that the devil already had dominion over the world because of sin does not directly apply to us today. All of God's children have been freed from the power of satan's kingdom and have been transferred to the kingdom of God's dear Son:

"giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son."

Colossians 1:12‭-‬13 

Satan does not have the power over us that he had over Job. And we are under a covenant with the Lord full of promises that Job did not have:

"But now hath He obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also He is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.

Hebrews 8:6 

In other words, what happened in the story of Job is that the devil had already targeted him and provoked God to withdraw His protection from him to see if Job would continue to serve Him. And this, because the Lord had spoken a blessing to Job that was irreversible:

"My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips."

Psalm 89:34 

Without the intervention of the devil no harm would have happened to Job and the same is true today. The Lord is not the source of our problems:

"Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:"

James 1:13 

Another thing to note is that Job was not under any covenant with God. This story takes place before the Mosaic law was given. God wanted to bless Job, and he did:

"For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."

Romans 9:15 

But when Satan protested, God had to hand him over because there was no legal contract (covenant) between Job and God that provided for this kind of blessing. You see that as there are physical laws, so there are spiritual laws.

This is also the reason why the Lord began to make covenants with man. He wanted to bless us, but he needed a legal way to get around the fact that all mankind had become corrupt and had made satan their master. These covenants were only partial covenants, because sinful man failed to live up to them, until Jesus came. Then God made a covenant with Jesus, the New Testament, based on the blood of our Lord, so that all who believe and trust in Him as their Savior enter into God's covenant with Jesus. This is how we have our greatest security and assurance in our lives, because Jesus will never change:

"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever."

Hebrews 13:8 

Amen 🙏

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