The Devil's in the details


8 Then the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."

9 "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. 10 "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.


Job 1:8-11

In the book of Job, we are exposed to the discussions in a heavenly or otherworldly court.  God himself oversees this court and begins to address the court which is described as having angels, including fallen angels such as Satan. 

The book of Job begins by powerfully illustrating that the events of our world are influenced by others in spiritual realms.  Although it is a heavenly court, the discussion centers upon Earthly matters.  We rarely take into account the nearness of God in daily matters.  We more often think of him as aloof and distant than having discussions about you and your life.

What is fascinating to me is the focus of God versus the focus of Satan in the story.  Even if you choose to interpret the book of Job metaphorically, where Satan represents evil and maliciousness, there is a definite difference in what God choses to emphasize in a person and what Satan is impressed by.

God focuses on Job's piety.  He is described as blameless and upright.  Due to his devotion, God literally has faith and trust in him.  However, notice that Satan doesnt challenge his piety, but focuses on his prosperity.  In fact, Satan assumes his piety is only because of his prosperity.

Many of you know the story.  Job has everything taken away but remains true to God.  A couple of principles that are made clear in this story:

1. God focuses on who a person is as opposed to what a person has.

2. Satan emphasizes prosperity over piety.  Anyone or anything that does the same should be suspect.

3. God is a God of providence.  It is God who provides, protects, and preserves.


What is your emphasis today: Prosperity or Piety.  Are you spending more time focusing on getting, obtaining, possessing or growing, giving, and being.  God is not ignorant of your needs, but is looking at your heart today.

In the heavenly court this morning, What is God saying about you?

God bless you this morning,

Pastor M Traylor

Comments

Karen said…
You place a thought for us to contemplate over; Prosperity or Piety? Job chose Piety over prosperity and yet God prospered him. I have been studying Job for a couple of months now and I realized how we focus on Jobs suffering and endurance. But God has taken me back further, before the suffering...when Job was "Prospering". This part of Job's story rarely gets discussed and is often overlooked in sermons and in teaching discussions. His life before the tragedies is only briefly addressed and we move quickly to "the good part". But how about we camp out for a while in Job's life BEFORE the losses? Job was a prosperous man. What were the outward signs of his prosperity? Why was He prosperous? How did Job handle the Prosperity? and What did he do with it? Prosperity is not an evil- and I totally agree with your blog..when seeking for riches we need to desire the true riches of God, but when given prosperity- we need to be wise to know how to handle it and Job is our example of how to handle prosperity! ;D
January 6, 2012 at 8:26 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Practical Prayer

Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.(Luke 5:15-16) Contemporary society is the busiest in the history of humanity.  This is not to say that previous generations did not work extremely hard, because progress was built on hard work.  However, the complexity of our lives in 2011, dwarfs the generations of the past.  One statistic states that the average person daily ingests and discerns more information than the average person in 1910 did in an entire year.  With economic pressures overhead, most of us feel the tension to be even more productive than ever, and experience more uncertainty than ever.   In the midst of all of this, our ongoing secularization tells us that faith has a diminishing role in the practical affairs of your job, family, relationships, careers, and finances.  Secularization is the process in which people go from having a
Read more

Gay Marriage: A Pastor's thoughts

" I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married,"  President Barak Obama As Pastor of a wonderful congregation (www.newhopefree.org), I have been asked numerous times "What do you think of Gay marriage?".  I have been lobbied by Godly people who feel strongly for and Godly people who strongly oppose Gay marriage.  I have talked with congregants who feel this is the single most important issue of our era, and with those who feel this is merely a distraction in the church's mission.  I share that to say that church is not monolithic in its approach to this issue and I recognize that Godly people may respectfully disagree with what I am about to say. From a Biblical perspective, I have written extensively that healthy sexual intimacy is always from a perspective of marriage.  Sexual intimacy before marriage or outside of marriage is clearly prohibited in scri
Read more

Prophetic Politics

Over and over, when I ask God why all of these injustices are allowed to exist in the world, I can feel the Spirit whisper to me, "You tell me why we allow this to happen. You are my body, my hands, my feet." Shane Claiborne Each November, I am reminded of the privilege we have in democracy, to choose candidates who lead our government, and to weigh in on local and state policies.  It is truly a privilege because there are many places in the world, where the people being governed have virtually no influence or voice in the process. Every year, I am asked as a pastor, what should be the Christian's role in the politics.  Typically, its usually a veiled request to find out where I stand on a particular issue.  Yet, I do think its a fair question to ask and a worthy question to consider.  In the secularized society, where one's faith is reduced to smaller and smaller sphere's of influence, there is a tendency to separate one's faith and one's politics. 
Read more