Facing giants in your life

Facing giants in our life

-Job 1

6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.” 8 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.” 9 Then Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 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. 11 But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face.” 12 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 2

9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed

O-this passage is exactly the challenge I would likely not choose to take and in the end somehow pray to God I would only do as well as Job does with it.  You see God is very strategic and intentional. In a gathering of his sons he allows Satan to participate despite knowing Satan’s character. The Lord asks seating and what are you doing and Satan answers simply roaming the earth looking for people to lead away from you.  The Lord sees this answer coming, and says have you considered my faithful servant Job. The devil retorts why would I consider him you have put up a hedge protecting all around him and given him everything he’s ever needed. Ironic because Satan thinks somehow that’s an insult to God, Whilefor me as a follower of God it’s a word of encouragement knowing He can and does protect us and provide for every need. And then God replies well even if I didn’t provide for every need of Job he would be faithful. And so the trial of Job began.  It started off very bad first the Lord allowing Satan to afflict Job’s body with boils from head to toe, followed up withby a less than supportive wife who tells him “curse God and die!”. 

A-so what is my application. Comically it’s to pray the Lord never tries me the way he allowed Satan to try Job. Realistically I should recognize I am tested each day I’m in this world by the influences of Satan and therefore I need to prepare myself to have the faith that Job had and build a deep relationship with God so that when those trials come I can respond In a way that honors God.  I am to also prepare for even such a trial as Job faced.  I believe my last season I faced not Boils but deep emotional challenges to the core of my soul that caused me doubt my own faith, doubt in my own relationship with God, and doubt in my future. My lesson in that is that the time before the big trial is what’s most important, these are the times of setting the deep roots in your foundation of a relationship with God and the depth of your faith. In the end, or in the valley, all you will have is your Faith which though may be diminished,is deep enough you will still have it at the required level remaining when you are in the valleys for seeking how to respond.

P- dear heavenly father thank you Lord for today’s devotion may be sealed to my heart. Lord I pray that you would give me the faith of Job, and that depth of love and relationship with you that he had. I pray this so that I can be ready to faithfully testified to who you are in my life, and I might face great trials with the integrity and grace that Job had shown. I pray this in Jesus Christ name, amen.