Temptation: It's Been Around a Long Time
As I was thinking about this topic, I recalled some very important scriptures. Proverbs 23:17-19: "Don't envy sinners, but always continue to fear the Lord. You will be rewarded for this; your hope will not be disappointed."
It would seem that Job is a book to encourage anyone who is struggling to maintain their faith in God...but the end of the book shows this is a promise to stand on. When I mention "standing," it is because we are definitely in a battle, but when we read ALL of scripture, we will find "the end of Job's life" has restoration so amazing, that we should find comfort as we read what happened.
At the beginning, God was bragging on Job, saying: "Then the Lord asked asked Satan, 'Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the the earth. He is blameless--a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil."
Satan replied to the Lord, 'Yes, but Job has good reason to fear God. You have always put a wall of protection around him and his home and his property. You have made him prosper in everything he does. Look how rich he is! But reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face!"
Now, let's think about all of this: Satan was still allowed before God's thrown.....hmmm. We know he is still trying to destroy our faith in God by any means possible...yet we know that we have a "better" covenant at Christ's expense. Satan can do us harm...only as far as God allows, but we can also take God at His word (the sword of the Spirit is the WORD) and resist him, and he must flee.
I'm not suggesting that this process is easy by any means. Often, the examples in the Bible reveal that God certainly has allowed or instigated "testing" for his disciples. Abraham, after waiting until he was 100 years old to have his "promised" child was then asked by the Lord to offer him as a sacrifice! Can you imagine what poor Sarah thought about that step of obedience???The truth is we have to rely on the word of truth from beginning to END!!! We must not become discouraged when we are tempted or fall or suffer or whatever else comes at us in life.
Many of us are intrigued by the coming "rapture" of the saints...and hope to avoid the tribulation described in Revelation....yet if we had a chance to speak with many of the martyr's down through the ages or even people who are suffering now from fires, floods, shortages of every sort, killings, etc. they would probably think they are experiencing the "tribulation."
But the more we know, the more we can take comfort. Jesus spoke these words: "In the world you have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world (John 16:33)".
One of the first "helps" that came to me was "The Screwtape Letters" written by C. S. Lewis. It exposed some of the simplest tactics Satan uses, yet it made me aware that we must be on the "defensive" as well as the "offensive". I recommend this short, little book, highly. If the "fear of the Lord, is the BEGINNING of wisdom," we should all ask for more awe of our God, not the crippling fear, but the motivating kind.
As challenging as life can be at times, if we read the end of Jobs life...and even the end of Revelation, we can be encouraged: Here is what happened with Job. First, God told off his friends and told them to make sacrifices....but more interesting, He said, "My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer on your behalf. I will not treat you as you deserve, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has." "When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before. Then all his brothers, sisters, and former friends came and feasted with him in his home. And they consoled him and comforted him because of all the trials the Lord had brought against him. And each of them brought him a gift of money and a gold ring.
So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning. For now he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 teams of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. He also gave Job seven more sons and three more daughters...." "Job lived 140 years after that, living to see four generations of his children and grandchildren. Then he died, an old man who had lived a long, full life."
As I have written before, I wonder and suspect that as was the case with Daniel, Jeremiah and others who were so constantly "interceding" for their friends and family, if Job's trials were turned in part by his praying for his "so called" friends. Intercession is what the Lord Jesus is doing on our behalf right now, in Heaven. Thus, it would be noteworthy if our trials would subside all the more as we pray for others???
One of the first "helps" that came to me was "The Screwtape Letters" written by C. S. Lewis. It exposed some of the simplest tactics Satan uses, yet it made me aware that we must be on the "defensive" as well as the "offensive". I recommend this short, little book, highly. If the "fear of the Lord, is the BEGINNING of wisdom," we should all ask for more awe of our God, not the crippling fear, but the motivating kind.
As challenging as life can be at times, if we read the end of Jobs life...and even the end of Revelation, we can be encouraged: Here is what happened with Job. First, God told off his friends and told them to make sacrifices....but more interesting, He said, "My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer on your behalf. I will not treat you as you deserve, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has." "When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before. Then all his brothers, sisters, and former friends came and feasted with him in his home. And they consoled him and comforted him because of all the trials the Lord had brought against him. And each of them brought him a gift of money and a gold ring.
So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning. For now he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 teams of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. He also gave Job seven more sons and three more daughters...." "Job lived 140 years after that, living to see four generations of his children and grandchildren. Then he died, an old man who had lived a long, full life."
As I have written before, I wonder and suspect that as was the case with Daniel, Jeremiah and others who were so constantly "interceding" for their friends and family, if Job's trials were turned in part by his praying for his "so called" friends. Intercession is what the Lord Jesus is doing on our behalf right now, in Heaven. Thus, it would be noteworthy if our trials would subside all the more as we pray for others???
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