Job 1:1-4:11

Job

1:1-2:13  -  Satan is very busy - ‘going to and fro on the earth...walking up and down on it’. Why is Satan ‘roaming through the earth’? - ‘Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour’ (1:7; 1 Peter 5:8). If, like Job, you ‘fear God and turn away from evil’, Satan will make you his target. He will do all that he can to make you stop worshipping God and start cursing Him (1:1,11). Satan is very powerful - but he can only do what God allows him to do (1:12; 2:6). There is a greater Power than the power of Satan - ‘the Power of God’. When you face Satan’s onslaughts, remember - God is in control. His Power is at work in us to keep us in the way of faith, the way which brings ‘ praise and glory and honour’ to Him (1 Peter 1:3-7).

3:1-4:11  -  ‘I’m reaching the end of my tether’ - Do you ever feel like this? What are we to do when, like Job, we find ourselves sinking into a state of deep depression? Remember Jesus. Remember His suffering - ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?’ (Matthew 27:46). He suffered for us. He suffers with us. In our suffering, we need Jesus. We need His love. Some may say, ‘You’ve only yourself to blame’. They will tell us, ‘Pull yourself together’. What good will this do - without the love of Jesus? Without His love, things will only get worse. Jesus knows how we feel. He’s been there. He went to the Cross - for us. Behind His suffering, we see His love. He has ‘suffered’. He has been ‘tempted’. He feels our pain. He comes to us with ‘mercy and grace’. He is our ‘Help in time of need’ (Hebrews 2:18; 4:15-16).