The Meaning Of Life

1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?”

Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”

3 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to [a]destroy him without cause.”

4 So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely [b]curse You to Your face!”

6 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.”

7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes.

9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? [c]Curse God and die!”

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

Before I comment, let me remind you that I’m not a smart man. Job is an extremely difficult book to read and comprehend. There are much more smarter people than I who can read this, look deeper into its meaning, and have a better understanding. All I can say is that I ask God to sent His Spirit down to teach me, to give me understanding and knowledge. This is His inspired Word, and I have to put trust in God that if it is something important enough He wants me to learn from it, He will make sure I understand. Again, I firmly believe the Bible holds the key to the Meaning of Life, and I doubt my God is the time that would “hide” His message, or make it a test that is too difficult for people to grasp; He wants us to read and understand this message. That said, here is my take on these verses.

The story of Job is actually a story about the fight between God and Satan, between good and evil. God fully has the power to destroy Satan in a heartbeat, but that would make Him look like a revenge-seeking tyrant who wields a strong hand of authority over people who do not obey Him. That is not my God. There is not one iota of revengeful character in my God, the only thing He “hates” is sin. I fully believe that the love of my God extends to even Satan. Yes, God abhors sins and Satan is the King of Sin, but that doesn’t stop God from loving him. God is the Father of everything, and just like your earthly father, no matter how bad you are, how disobedient your are, your earthly father still loves you. Your Heavenly Father is no different.

God has to show to people that He gives free-will. If God were to tell Satan, “No, stay away form Job”, people may look at God and say, “What does He have to hide? Why doesn’t God want Satan to confront Job? Is Satan right, the only reason he loves God is because God protects him and for no other reason?” The whole story, the entire Bible, shows us the true character of our loving and wonderful Father and how He wants us to live in harmony with Him.

I am a follower of Dr. Timothy Jennings, MD, a psychiatrist that has his own ministry. Dr. Jennings talks about “design laws”, the laws that God designed creation around. One example Dr. Jennings cites is the design of how we exhale carbon dioxide which is needed for trees to live, and trees give off oxygen which is vital to our life; that is just one of God’s “design laws”. He continues saying that we can tie a plastic back around our head, selfishly hoard our carbon dioxide and keep it to ourselves, which is contrary to God’s design laws, and the result will be our death. Any time we ask contrary to God design law, we will die. If we selfishly sin without confession, asking for forgiveness, and striving for repentance, we are living contrary to God’s design laws and it will result in death. You can find more about Dr. Jennings ministry here. He is also the author of the book, “The God Shaped Brain” and “The God Shaped Heart”

One last comment, you can see how Job’s wife reacts to this situation. Be like Job, not like his wife.

“Father, thank you for your Word. We pray that you give us understanding in each and every word of your inspired text. Amen”