Wednesday after the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on September 22, 2021 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
God is not tempting Job. St. James writes, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.” God hates sin and leads no one into sin. He does, however, allow Satan to tempt us with various trials and temptations. While Satan’s purpose is to lead us into willful sinning, carnal security, and eventually unbelief or despair, the Lord’s purpose is the exercising of our faith. The Lord said of Job, “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.” The Lord allowed Satan to harm Job in his body. This leads Job’s wife to blaspheme. His three friends, though quiet now, will open their mouths and speak without wisdom about God’s doings. Even in the midst of losing everything but his life, Job patiently endures, telling the wife God had given him, “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?”
St. James commends Job to us in James 5:11, “Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.” Whenever the Lord allows Satan to tempt us, we must pray for the endurance of Job and the confidence that God works all things for our good.
Prayer: Lord, we pray Thee, that Thy grace may always go before and follow after us, and make us continually given to all good works; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
