Satan’s strategy (3)
“But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face … But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face. … His wife said to him, "Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 1:11; 2:5, 9)
A man named Job was blameless and upright who feared God and shunned evil (Job 1:1). God boasted this Job to Satan: “… There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil” (v. 8). At that time, Satan questioned God, “Does Job fear God for nothing?” (v. 9) And he said that the reason Job feared God and shunned evil and blameless and upright was because of the blessings God had bestowed upon him. So Satan asserted that if God struck all of Job's possessions, Job would surely curse God to His face (v. 11). So Satan, with God’s permission, struck down all that Job had [7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 donkeys (v. 3)], and went on further to strike down Job’s ten children [7 sons and 3 daughters (v. 2)] (vv. 13-19). Did Job really curse God when he heard this news? As we already know, when Job heard the news that all his children had died and all that he had lost, he got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship (v.20). When I think about how Job could have worshiped God after hearing such news, I think that it is truly amazing God's grace and Job's faith. Just as David, who went into the temple and worshiped God after heard the news that the baby, who was born with Bathsheba, was dead, because God struck the baby, due to his sins with Bathsheba and killing her husband Uriah (2 Sam. 12:20), Job also worshiped God despite the death of all ten of his children. After all, Satan failed to make Job curse the Lord.
Satan, who did not succeed in his first attack, went to God again (Job 2:1). God said to Satan “… And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason” (v. 3). At that time, Satan said to God, “… stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face” (v. 5). And with God's permission (v. 6), Satan afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head (v. 7). As a result, Job was in so much pain that he took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes (v. 8). Job's wife saw it and said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!" (v. 9) At that time Job said to his wife: “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” Eventually, Job's wife fell into Satan's temptation and committed the sin of blaspheming the Lord. But Job did not sin in what he said in all this (v. 10). Satan once again failed to get Job to curse the Lord.
As I meditated on these words this morning, I realized that Satan's purpose is to make us curse the Lord by striking our possessions, our children, or our health. In such a realization, like Job, I reflected myself whether I sinned against God with my lips like Job’s wife without being able to endure hardship and adversity with faith until the end. At least Job's wife did not say to Job, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die" (v. 10) (There is no such word in Job Ch. 1). Judging from that, it seems that Job's wife also had great and precious faith. However, no matter how great and precious faith she had, if she fails to keep that faith like Job to the end but end up blaspheming the Lord, I don't think we can say that she fought the good fight of faith well to the end. I just hope and pray that we don’t sin against God with our lips like Job, but rather to be raised as true worshipers even through suffering, even if Satan tries to make us curse the Lord in any way possible.