“And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job? . . . Still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause. And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.” (Job 2:3-5)
After Satan suddenly plunges Job into total poverty and rips his children from him, “Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, and said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly” (Job 1:20-22).
Nonchalantly appearing among the “sons of God” again, Satan callously suggests that if God would strike “His hand” against Job—this time by ruining his health—Job would rebel and disavow his relationship with God. All of heaven must have cowered as Satan maliciously baited God again. But the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life. So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown” (Job 2:6-7).
As Job moves to the trash heap to scrape the oozing pus from his sores, his wife throws a final slur at his face: “Curse God and die.” But Job simply says, “What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips” (Job 2:10). May the example of this good man encourage us to trust God even in times of woe. HMM III
Adapted from The Book of Beginnings by Dr. Henry M. Morris III.
