Have you considered My servant Job?

A lesson in sovereignty, faith, and glory

The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.” - Job 1:8

Job is often used as a story for teaching patience and longsuffering. This stands to reason, as Job exhibits great patience while enduring many difficult trials. There are two aspects of this story, however, that are more prominent and pertinent, but are less commonly discussed: God’s sovereignty and Job’s faith, and both of these are to God’s glory. Let’s start at the beginning.

We’re told that the “sons of God” (presumably, the angels) came to present themselves before the Lord, and that Satan also was among them. We do not really know how old the book of Job is, but it seems safe to assume that Satan, as well as the angels who followed him in his rebellion, were already cast out of heaven. God asks Satan where he has been, or from where he has come (depending upon the translation you are reading), and Satan replies, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it” (Job 1:7 - NASB), mirroring Peter’s statement that we should “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). This seems pretty simple and straightforward, but there is something of which to take note in the Job passage. First is that Satan still has access to God’s presence. Second is that he still answers to God. This will be seen further as we dive deeper into the book.

Next, God asks an interesting question: “Have you considered My servant Job?” (Job 1:8a) Some teachers have at times attributed Satan’s attacks on Job to fear, or a supposed lack of faith. This question makes it clear that God is instigating. What? Yes, God Himself initiates the trials Job is to undergo at the hand of Satan. Not because Job lacks faith, and not because Job fears. God Himself continues by telling Satan that “there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil” (Job. 1:8b). God is seeking to show His glory through His servant. This instigates somewhat of a “Trading Places” style bet, if you will.

If you’ll recall, in the movie “Trading Places,” starring Eddie Murphy as a down-and-out, street-hustling, con man named Billy Ray Valentine, and Dan Aykroyd as a very successful commodities broker, Louis Winthorpe III, working for the prestigious firm of Duke and Duke. When Valentine is arrested just outside the firm, the Duke brothers, looking at the disparity between the two characters, have a discussion about why the two ended up in such different places in life: was it nature or nurture? So they make a bet, one saying it is nurture, and that Louis could be turned into a wretch given the right circumstances. This is similar to what ensues with Satan’s response to God:

Then Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face.” - Job 1:9-11

Satan’s argument is that Job is only the way he is because of God’s nurture. If only God would take away Job’s protections, take away his plenty, surely Job would turn against God, as Louis did the Dukes. God takes Satan up on this wicked wager, and gives Satan permission to cause Job calamity and consternation:

Then the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the LORD. - Job 1:12

Here we again see God’s sovereignty in two ways:

1. God is sovereign over Job’s life; He has the power and authority to do what He wants with Job, and rightly so, because Job is part of God’s creation;

2. Satan still answers to God’s authority; the permission granted Satan to afflict Job is limited, and Satan must work within these limits.

I have seen many people over the years make the mistake of thinking Satan is in control of this world and God is just sitting by, watching, waiting for opportunity to do something. This could not be further from the truth. God is, and has always been, in complete control. Whatever Satan does, as can be seen here, he is only able because he is permitted by God.

Now we come to Job. Job is prosperous. Job, as God stated, is upright and God-fearing. Job is so faithful that he regularly makes offerings to God on behalf of his children, just in case they may have sinned against God. Then one day he receives word from four servants, coming in succession, that he lost his oxen and donkeys and their caretakers in a raid, that his sheep and their caretakers were burned up by “the fire of God” falling from heaven, that his camels and their caretakers were lost in a raid separate from the first, and that the wind blew so hard at his son’s house the house collapsed on his children killing them all. Imagine the grief of losing all of your children and almost all your possessions all at once. Satan did not hold back. As God instructed, Satan took just about everything except Job’s own life. How did Job respond?

He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.” - Job 1:21

Job responded in faith. Job did not curse God, he did not curse his circumstances, he did not curse Satan or those who raided his livestock. He lamented, but he praised God nonetheless. This is true faith. Job clung to God despite his circumstances and despite not understanding why these things were happening. He did not think, “what have I done that God should do this to me?” He recognized God’s sovereignty, but he did not sin in his reaction, even as God Himself tells us that “through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God” (Job 1:22). Job recognizes that God is in control, and yet, he does not get angry with God for what has happened.

Moving into the second chapter, we see a similar scene to that in the first: the angels come before God, with Satan also in attendance, and God and Satan share a similar exchange. God adds regarding Job that “he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause” (Job 2:3b). Notice that, though God initiated the conversation about Job, Satan is still the one who instigated attacking Job. God also vindicates Job in starting that the attack is “without cause.” Again, it’s similar to the “Trading Places” concept. Duke1: “Have you seen my guy? He’s great, isn’t he?” Duke2: “Well, he’s only that way because you’ve taken care of him and made him rich. I bet he would despise you if you took it all away.” So, though Duke1 initiated, Duke2 incited. Same here. God initiated the conversation, but Satan incited God to ruin Job. Of course, since Job has continued in his integrity, despite these trials, Satan goes further:

Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. However, put forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse You to Your face.” So the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your power, only spare his life.” - Job 2:4-6

So, Satan thinks if he makes Job’s trials tougher, inflicting him physically, Job will turn on God. Again, God’s sovereignty is seen here as He restricts Satan from taking Job’s life.

At this point, even Job’s wife encourages him to curse God, but Job refuses to abandon his faith.

But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. - Job. 2:10

As before, Job recognizes God’s sovereignty, yet without accusing God. The trials continue to worsen, with his friends, those from whom you would expect compassion, accusing him and wrongly insinuating that Job must have sinned to have brought these things upon himself. This same pattern of thought is present throughout Scripture, and can be seen when Jesus’ disciples ask about a man born blind:

And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. - Jn. 9:2-3

And just as with the passage in Job, Jesus affirms God’s sovereignty in the trial and that it is specifically for God’s glory. In the same way, Job maintaining his faith glorifies God. God is allowing this so that His glory may be revealed not only to Satan, but to the angels who gather before Him. This is our purpose here - to glorify God. It is for this purpose He saves:

What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. - Rom. 9:22-24

To whom is He showing this glory? To us, certainly, but not only us:

To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. - Eph. 3:8-10

God created angelic beings before He created humans, and to these beings, He shows forth His wisdom and glory through this second (if you will) creation. All is working out according to His plan, guided by His sovereign will. Job serves as such an excellent example of all of this!  One of Job’s most encouraging and God-honoring statements comes in the midst of these terrible trials and amidst his companions’ condemnation:

“As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me!” Job 19:25-27

What amazing faith! How this glorifies God! How insignificant are the troubles we face in comparison with Job’s? Yet do we exhibit faith this strong, this steadfast? Against his accusers Job maintains his innocence, yet man cannot justify himself before God, and God chastises Job for this. God still, however, also maintains that Job never spoke wrongly of God, when He castigates Job’s companions:

It came about after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has. - Job 42:7

Job may have complained some, wished he hadn’t been born, but his faith never faltered, nor did his view of God.

God makes all clear to both Job and his so-called “friends,” and we should take note:

• for God to fully explain himself to us would be like Einstein trying to explain himself to a maggot

• no man is justified before God except that God justify him

• God is sovereign over all, and all is done according to His will and for His glory

A little long, though shorter than the entire book of Job. We all should pray to have the faith of Job. I pray that the next time you read through Job, you observe God’s sovereignty and glory in all that happened, and Job’s unwavering faith.