Job Description: Kill, Steal and Destroy

Today we are picking up in Job 1 by looking at what satan did to show God he was right about Job and the things he elaborately planned in order to provoke Job to curse God to His face.  First, I would like to start by framing our mind with some truths to enlighten our view points.  All the scriptures are from the NAS translation:
John 10:10-13

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have  it abundantly. 11 "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12 "He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd,  who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 "He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.

  Romans 8:20 and 21 where Paul states:

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because  of Him who subjected it, in hope  that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And  not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan  within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the  redemption of our body.  For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

Luke 11:21-23:

“When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own mansion, his property is safe.  But a stronger man than he may attack him and defeat him.  Then the stronger man will take away all the weapons in which the strong man trusted and will divide the loot.

Genesis 2:15,16 and 3: 16, 19

Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to farm the land and to take care of it.  The Lord God commanded the man.  He said “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden.  But you must never eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because when you eat from it you will certainly die.
……"I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children……………
………For you are dust, And to dust you shall return."

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With this frame of thought let’s read about the next few pieces of Job’s journey as satan goes about killing, stealing and destroying what God has created.  Job 1:13-22 (GWT):

One day when Job’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s home, a messenger came to Job.  He said “While the oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, men from Sheba attacked.  They took the livestock and massacred the servants.  I’m the only one who has escaped to tell you.”
While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “A fire from God fell from heaven and completely burned your flocks and servants.  I’m the only one who has escaped to tell you.” 
While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three companies and made a raid on the camels.  They took the camels and massacred the servants.  I’m the only one who has escaped to tell you.”
While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine at their oldest brother’s home when suddenly a great storm swept across the desert and struck the four corners of the house.  It fell on the young people, and they died.  I’m the only one who has escaped to tell you.”
Job stood up, tore his robe in grief and shaved his head.  Then he fell to the ground and worshiped.  He said, “Naked I came from my mother, and naked I will return.  The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away! May the name of the Lord be praised.”
Through all this Job did not sin or blame God for doing anything wrong.

There are several things that we need to be aware of here.  First satan uses the people in our lives who are easily manipulated to carry out his plans.  This does not mean that the people are evil or possessed.  It simply means they do not guard against false imaginations by casting them down and filling that space with a truth of God.  Satan spared a mouth piece in each situation who believed exactly what he wanted them to believe and ran in fear to make the report he wanted made to Job.  God did not send the natural disaster, satan did.  Satan must have loved the fact that he was being called God Almighty, he must have felt so very powerful in those moments. 
Can you imagine how his ego shriveled up and he ran when his scheming didn’t overtake Job’s love and trust in the faithfulness of our Lord God Almighty.  Even though Job did not understand that it was not God that took anything away, He only gives blessing.  Job did not allow satan to be the strong man in his land.  Job was righteous as God had stated.  Satan was proven once again to be the deceiver and God was magnified even on the worse day Job had ever imagined possible. 
Satan left a loser but that is not the end of this journey.  Satan does not give up when he sees that we do not fully comprehend the truth.  When he sees a foot hold you can sit back and collect bets, cause he will return…..as soon as we have our house swept and put in order.
Today, just read through this and think about it.  Tomorrow I want you to read it again, and write about it.  I will come back and post notes from one of our groups meeting tomorrow morning to give you some feed back.
Today I give thanks for the things we already see, I give thanks for the hopes that we have in our heart and I ask for his sight to keep your eyes set on the horizon where they will appear before you.  I lift His name on High to receive all praise honor and glory for all eternity.
In Christ, with Love,
Candace

Are You Going To Leave Me Too? Where Would You Go?

(Read John 6 if you are unfamiliar with the title statement)

2 Corinthians 6:1-18 (NAS) And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain for He says “At the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the day of salvation I helped you:” behold, now is the acceptable time, behold now is “The Day of Salvation” giving no cause for offense in anything, in order that the ministry be not discredited, but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth in the power of God’ by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things. Our mouth has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians, our heart is open wide. You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own affections. Now in a like exchange – I speak to you as children- open wide to us also. Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate, says the Lord. And do not touch what is unclean; and I will welcome you. And I will be a father to you and you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” says the Almighty

Sometimes, through my process of growing into the maturity of Christ, God’s understanding and liberating the Spirit of God whom I grieve when I control, I would miss the larger lesson before me.

I, in my lack of understanding, would focus on how others actions affected me. ,I in my arrogance, would align myself with the suffering of Christ and hold a private pity party - just Him and me. The pitiful thing is, He would always attend and sit there with me.  He would call me out either; simply comfort me.

I would talk to Him about how others would just leave, seeing something else that they wanted to obtain - maybe they would get bored. I would pray for their success but somewhere inside I would hold back a bit. I would serve with a little less joy and a little more weight. I would talk to Him about how I understood in a small way what He meant when He implored others to stay alert and pray for Him so that He would not have to endure alone. I did not ever think that it was only He and I though, nor did I compare myself in any way to what he must have endured – I think you get the picture.

But through Christ’s kindness, His gentleness and the holy spirit I finally was able to see that the times when I would think “God do you want me to quit and go back to what I was doing? Is that what you are trying to tell me?”, He was actually increasing my perspective, my understanding, my compassion and my discernment by taking me to and through another level of intimacy.

There comes a point in a relationship when once separate minds are now in perfect harmony (not that I am there yet); when you are saying the same thing at the same time, with the same inflection. When I was saying “Are you going to leave me too”, He was saying to me “Are you going to leave me too?

Leaving is not an option. We are forever His. We are His bride. He will never leave us nor forsake us and it is eternal because there is no death. He left His father beginning the process of being forever join with His bride. For a time we could not cleave to Him; but now we can.

So next time I feel like inviting Him to a “Pitiful Party” I think I will just sit and pray for Him, for His bride to be everything He anticipates, and for His bride to run with arms wide open to embrace Him.

In Christ with Love,

Candace