The Wednesday after the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on October 8, 2025 by under
Scripture: Job 2:1-10 (NKJV)
2:1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?”
Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”
3 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.”
4 So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face!”
6 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.”
7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes.
9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!”
10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Devotion
Job said, “Shall we not accept adversity?” Adversity does not give us the right to stop doing the righteous work that God has prepared for us. Sometimes suffering adversity is the very work that the Lord would have us do! The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job…?” The suffering and adversity that God permitted to come upon Job is one of the most well-known stories of the Scriptures. But Job’s purpose was not only to suffer. He was to show what faithfulness looks like under affliction, and the Lord lifted up His servant Job so that we can ultimately see God’s grace as all things are made to work together for His will.
This story also shows us that Satan is not free to do whatever he wants. Even though Satan is the murderous enemy of God and His children, the enemy still must submit to the power and will of God. Our Lord is not the author of evil. He allows things to happen because He Himself will show His power and mercy by turning it to good for His children. Even greater than the example of Job’s faithfulness under adversity is the story of our Lord’s suffering, death, and resurrection. God Himself allowed Satan and evil men to do all manner of temptation and violence against Him. But our Lord Jesus not only remained perfectly faithful, He also did it to pay for our sins and earn our salvation!
Collect: Lord, we pray Thee, that Thy grace may always go before and follow after us, and make us continually to be given to all good works; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
