From what the Bible says, God has a split personality as far as His dealings with Satan goes. In Genesis 3, God sentences Satan, in the form of the serpent, to be stepped on his head by man. In Genesis 3:15 He says to the serpent, “…[man] shall bruise your head.” We don’t know what the serpent’s response was, because the Bible doesn’t say. It appears then, that God had the last word there.
But then we go to the Book of Job, and we see God chatting amiably with Satan. He asks Satan, ‘Where have you been?’ and Satan answers, ‘Oh, I’ve been to and fro, up and about.’ God then says to Satan, very amiably, ‘Have you considered Job, an upright person?’ Here they are, God and Satan, chatting like old friends. In one instance, God commissions man to tramp on Satan’s head, and here, it’s like God has a split personality…hostile one minute, friendly the next.
But then God and Satan get down to business. Satan says to God, ‘Let me have Job, and we’ll see if he is still devoted to you after I’m done with him.’ God essentially says to Satan, ‘Be my guest.’ Some would almost have expected God and Satan to make a wager of, say, a dollar like in the movie “Trading Places!” But alas, it is just a gentlemen’s bet.
And Satan proceeds by taking Job’s wealth and family away from him and inflicting him with disease that makes him suffer. Yet in all his suffering, Job did not renounce his devotion to God. He does question why God is putting him through all this, and his friends come along to offer him encouragement, saying in effect, ‘Why do you continue to believe in God when He has allowed these terrible things to happen to you?’ In Job 5:8-9 Job responds to one of his friends,
“As for me, I would seek God,
and to God would I commit my cause,
who adoes great things and bunsearchable,
marvelous things without number…”
And this is basically Job’s position throughout his ordeal. His faith in God. and his trust in God to do the right thing never waivers, and God rewards him for his efforts.
Now Job came along after God had given the Law to the Hebrews, but the Bible recognizes that not everyone is as stalwart as Job. For this reason, the Bible encourages us to help eachother in resisting Satan’s temptations, in the spirit of Jesus. 1 Corinthians 7:5 says, “Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.” It stems from the second commandment of Jesus which is to love eachother as we do ourselves.
It was evident that with friends like Job’s who needs enemies, and one would be hard-pressed to find the love that such friends of Job had for him. They were of no help to him. Problem is, how many can go it alone against Satan like Job did, counting on only themselves? We are socially oriented, so most of us regard ourselves in terms of how others see us. So, we team up, though, as 1 Corinthians 7:5 infers, prayer is generally an individual effort. Other parts of the Bible confirm this by saying we are to engage in prayer silently, behind closed doors.
Considering all the suffering endured by many people throughout the world, one must wonder if God made other wagers with Satan, testing other people’s devotion to Him, and if God’s testing us is a means to impress Satan. The Bible tells of God’s love for us, but at times it seems we are just pawns.
But then we go to the Book of Job, and we see God chatting amiably with Satan. He asks Satan, ‘Where have you been?’ and Satan answers, ‘Oh, I’ve been to and fro, up and about.’ God then says to Satan, very amiably, ‘Have you considered Job, an upright person?’ Here they are, God and Satan, chatting like old friends. In one instance, God commissions man to tramp on Satan’s head, and here, it’s like God has a split personality…hostile one minute, friendly the next.
But then God and Satan get down to business. Satan says to God, ‘Let me have Job, and we’ll see if he is still devoted to you after I’m done with him.’ God essentially says to Satan, ‘Be my guest.’ Some would almost have expected God and Satan to make a wager of, say, a dollar like in the movie “Trading Places!” But alas, it is just a gentlemen’s bet.
And Satan proceeds by taking Job’s wealth and family away from him and inflicting him with disease that makes him suffer. Yet in all his suffering, Job did not renounce his devotion to God. He does question why God is putting him through all this, and his friends come along to offer him encouragement, saying in effect, ‘Why do you continue to believe in God when He has allowed these terrible things to happen to you?’ In Job 5:8-9 Job responds to one of his friends,
“As for me, I would seek God,
and to God would I commit my cause,
who adoes great things and bunsearchable,
marvelous things without number…”
And this is basically Job’s position throughout his ordeal. His faith in God. and his trust in God to do the right thing never waivers, and God rewards him for his efforts.
Now Job came along after God had given the Law to the Hebrews, but the Bible recognizes that not everyone is as stalwart as Job. For this reason, the Bible encourages us to help eachother in resisting Satan’s temptations, in the spirit of Jesus. 1 Corinthians 7:5 says, “Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.” It stems from the second commandment of Jesus which is to love eachother as we do ourselves.
It was evident that with friends like Job’s who needs enemies, and one would be hard-pressed to find the love that such friends of Job had for him. They were of no help to him. Problem is, how many can go it alone against Satan like Job did, counting on only themselves? We are socially oriented, so most of us regard ourselves in terms of how others see us. So, we team up, though, as 1 Corinthians 7:5 infers, prayer is generally an individual effort. Other parts of the Bible confirm this by saying we are to engage in prayer silently, behind closed doors.
Considering all the suffering endured by many people throughout the world, one must wonder if God made other wagers with Satan, testing other people’s devotion to Him, and if God’s testing us is a means to impress Satan. The Bible tells of God’s love for us, but at times it seems we are just pawns.
Same here.