“Well, hello there Almighty,” the fallen angel Lucifer sneered.  Leaning against a column and looking defiant just like the days before he’d been cast from God’s presence. All in heaven knew he was no longer allowed to be one of God’s angels.

Why was he here? The other angels were presenting themselves to God, surely Lucifer didn’t come to gain God’s trust again?

“Lucifer?  Where have you been?” God asked.  Knowing the answer and knowing why this once heavenly being was in Heaven. 

For it seemed that despite losing the beauty of Heaven, the ultimate peace from being in his Creator’s presence and his place as one of God’s angels Lucifer still sought what he’d been cast from Heaven for; to become god himself.

“Roaming around on earth, creating as much trouble as I can for You.” Satan remarked. “But truthfully people have become too easy to catch in my webs. There’s really little challenge anymore”

Though Lucifer’s words and tone were full of boredom no one, least of all God was fooled. “You deceive them Lucifer. You don’t win them honestly.  You don’t, as children say, play fair.”  God looked at the ugliness before him and waited.

“I don’t play fair?”  The mocking question hung in the air as Lucifer’s chilling scoff was heard. All of Heaven watched the unusual confrontation.

All heard the underlying challenge in the next words. “Have you given much thought to my servant Job in Uz” God asked?

Lucifer’s eyebrows shot up and the anger he’d been trying to hide shone in his eyes.  “You know I can’t touch him.  Not dear Job whom You’ve babied and protected for all his boring days.  Not Job whom You’ve placed a hedge of protection around. You very well know I can’t get past Your protection.”

“Job is my loyal servant.  He obeys my Word, keeps my decrees.  Job is one of mine.”  God stopped to draw Lucifer’s attention solely back to Him.  “Job will pass your test.”

God had Lucifer’s full attention but the offer was too good to be true. Job was well protected.  Satan thought, “So He offers up His favorite?  Why?”

The clogs in Lucifer’s mind turned and he spouted, “Of course You offer Job.  He has every blessing You can provide.  But remove Your hedge of protection and Job will come to me willingly.”

“You may touch anything Job owns, anything around him, except Job himself.”

Lucifer was gone as quickly as he’d appeared and God looked down on Job and waited.

This is a paraphrase of the way the history recorded in God’s word in the book of Job goes in the beginning.  Job didn’t know what had transpired in Heaven.  He didn’t know the test of his faith in Jehovah was about to be tested, but what if he had?  What if the conversation happened today?  About you? About me?

These are the thoughts that occured to me during one our pastor’s sermons a few Sunday’s ago. Admittedly there have been seasons in my life I’m sure God has given everything in my life up for Satan to destroy but it has stopped when I stopped and counted my blessings. Perspective and reality told me I knew different.

Would I stand for God even when all I had left was a bitter spouse urging me to curse God and die? Three friends judging me and lecturing me on my uncommitted sins their imaginations conjured? These two things just named and the ashes I was kneeling in where I scraped my sores with broken pottery shards?

Yes, Job would have it all restored but he didn’t know that. Job’s view of his future was like his present. Yet, he didn’t give in to Satan’s attack. Job stood for God.

Because what Job really had left was what he started with, an unshakable belief in God. Job wasn’t a believer in God because of what God gave him. Job believed, Job had a deeply rooted faith in Jehovah because God is God and that was what his life was based on.

I still lack enough faith in my faith that if I had the choice whether to go through what Job did or not I would wrestle with saying one of two things:”Thanks, really, but no thanks or not my will but Your’s Lord.”

You?

—Donna