HAVE YOU CONSIDERED MY SERVANT, JOB? [Job 1:8]
God Himself provoked the inquiry. It was the Lord who
raised the question. Consider this man. Come, look
well, friend or foe alike, or even Satan himself. Consider Job. Search
him thoroughly. Examine him to his foundations.
Thus, the ultimate issue was raised by the Lord of Testing.
This most critical and fundamental consideration of the ages is
exposed. Why does a man fear God and serve Him? What motivates
him at the core of his being? The answer to this determines eternal
destinies.
Satan had an answer: Man only serves God for the benefits
gained thereby. Does Job fear God for nothing? 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. But put forth Your hand now and touch all
that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face [Job 1:9-11].
“Man is self-seeking. He has no love for God. Man only
serves God for what You give him.� This is the devil’s accusation. His
allegation is that no one honors God simply because He is God,
because of who He is. Man is only attracted to God for what he can
get from Him
It is a serious charge. If true, no one will reach heaven. If
false, Satan will never reach heaven. These are ultimate issues.
If at the core of a man’s heart is the root of self-interest, he is
no better than Satan himself. Lucifer became the devil and fell from
heaven because of this very thing [Isa.14:12]. He was full of ambition,
self-gain, self-seeking [Isa.12:13, 14]. Lucifer promoted himself using
God’s bounty out of a heart whose concern was not God Himself, but
only self-interest. And he shall be brought down to hell [Isa.14:15].
It is for this reason that this poses an ultimate issue, yes, the ultimate
issue.
Self-seeking casts into hell. It did with Lucifer. It does so for
all following in his steps. This is the ultimate issue for man.
But behind this lies a second consideration looming as a dark
cloud threatening to dislodge the bedrock of the very throne of justice
itself. It is an accusation leveled against the foundation of everlasting
righteousness.
The dilemma raised is this. If an essentially self-centered man
is welcomed into heaven, then God has no basis to exclude Satan from
that place either. If God is “served� [actually, used] by man to obtain
his own ends, then man’s “love� and “obedience� is a charade, a clever
device to cover his inner corruption and nothing more. If that is true,
then God is not honored and obeyed at all. On man’s terms alone is
God “served.�
When examined, if the final motivation for man’s religious
devotion is self-interest, and yet that man is received into heaven as
righteous, then God is unjust. God is shown to be unrighteous or a
fool, because, without cause, He arbitrarily accepts one self-centered
being and excludes another. If self-seeking man attains heaven while
self-seeking Satan descends to hell, justice decays into mere whim.
Too pure to approve evil are the eyes of the Lord [Hab.1:13].
The devil knows this very well. Yet he turned this very thing to his
own advantage to demand access into heaven in the case of Job.
“You have welcomed Job. You delight boastfully in him. He,
You say, fears You and turns away from evil. But I say, he has not
turned away from evil. You have cast me out of Your presence saying
that my ambitious self-seeking was evil. But Job is full of the same in
the depths of his soul.
“I will prove that he is no different than me. I will
demonstrate before all heaven that you have no right to reject me and
accept him. I will unveil Your injustice. I will expose this doublestandard
and demand my entrance back into Your realm,� thus says
Satan.
All heaven is watching. Eternal issues hang in the balance in
the unseen spheres. God did not accept the devil’s challenge, for it
was the Lord who challenged him. For time and eternity the Lord will
lay the unshakable ground of the rightful condemnation of selfseeking.
His proof centered in a man named Job, a man who suffered
at the hand of God, by the will of God, and for the glory of God.
Lucifer, unrivaled in wisdom and beauty, had everything and
did not love God [Ezk.28:12-19]. Job, a man who lost everything and
was reduced to wretchedness, loved God and trusted Him simply
because He is God. Hear him cry, Though He slay me, yet will I trust
in Him! [Job 13:15].
God is vindicated. His judgment is just. He had found a man
who through sorrow, affliction, pain, reproach, false accusation,
abandonment, and utter privation yet clung to God, maintained his
integrity, and magnified the God of heaven simply because He is
worthy.
Job condemned the devil. God thereby displayed the grounds
upon which He Himself will condemn him as well. Job is in heaven,
Satan is not. Job was shown to be free from self through his sufferings
while Satan suffers unendingly by reason of being full of self. These
are indeed ultimate issues.
Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?…Do
you not know that we will judge angels? [I Cor.6:2, 3]. Do you not
know? Do you not know that your every sorrow here below is
designed to display the manifold grace of God above?
Are there not eternal issues revolving about your afflictions in
this life? Will not your obedience through mists of tears be an
everlasting rebuke to once bright spirits now darkened demons?
May you fall on your face and worship, blessing the name of
the Lord as did Job. May you not sin or charge God foolishly. May
you endure as seeing Him who is unseen.
And may He who is unseen see in you what He saw in Job;
one who will trust in Him though He slay you.
Eternal issues depend upon it.
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He died for all that they who live
might no longer live for themselves,
But for Him who died and rose again on their behalf
[2 Cor.5:15]