Understanding The Trial of Job

When many people think of the trial of Job, they take the perspective that Job was a blameless man just being punished for no reason. They ask themselves why would God allow a man that was serving him faithfully to endure such hardships and tribulations? Or why would God allow Satan to talk him into it? However, this is often times due to a misunderstanding concerning the trial of Job and concerning The Most High God.

Isaiah 6:9 KJV

And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.

The first thing we must humble ourselves to is understanding the beings we are dealing with. Sometimes we forget how intelligent not only Satan is but more so rather The Most High God is. His testing of Job was not one in which we feel is reduced to, “oh, well Job is righteous yeah, try him. Let’s get a kick out of it. Let’s just see what happens.” This is overly simplified and too shallow of a thought process and was not the center of focus but rather the trial of Job was something that was very important and relatable.

Job 1:7-12 KJVS

And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. [8] And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

We first see that the most high God questions Satan in terms of where have you been? What have you been up to? And Satan gives him the explanation that well, you already know, I’ve been doing my job, I’ve been going throughout the Earth and seeing who I could tempt, who I could try, to see if they would ultimately go against you and your word and sin. The Most High acknowledged that and told him that as you were doing your job have you considered my servant Job? And it’s not that he didn’t have other servants. But first he has to acknowledge that well, a lot of the people you messing with don’t even serve me on the first place. They already on your team so that’s easy work to provoke someone to sin that is already in living in sin. S let’s look at my servants not yours. And among my servants ain’t nobody like this man. Have you considered this dude over here!?! You know this guy! This guy? Yes, this guy! Because this guy, man he’s on point. You know if you’re looking to test or try someone you should try him. You know this person here is doing an impeccable job with maintaining the standard and level of righteousness that I expect of him and others. Nobody can hold a candle to him. He hasn’t disobeyed yet. This is an example of the conversation being had based on what the scriptures give us as an abridged version.

[9] Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? [10] Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

So now this is where things begin to get interesting. As Satan is producing a counter argument or rebuttal to Gods reasoning. He is like, I acknowledge what it is you are saying, he is righteous and just and does fear you but does Job fear you for nothing? You know that’s what he’s saying but there is more to it than that. Is it truly a situation where Job has had to fear you or earn your fear? You say why is he saying this? Because he elaborates further. You’ve built this hedge about him. And not only him, but his job, his car, his house, his kids. You have put him in a safe zone where evil angels are not allowed to destroy what he has. And you have protected him from the very things that could lead one not to fear you. That can lead one to sin. Look at what you’ve done in his life. I mean Job has everything that he could possibly dream of to make his life comfortable so he’s really in a space where you built security around him and in most of that being through his finances and his wealth, so what need has he to worry about possibly jeopardizing something and doing something that would ultimately cause him to fall short of what your laws say to do or not to do? Now you are seeing more of the reasoning being brought to light.

[11] But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. [12] And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

But if you put him in a state where he is in jeopardy will he still maintain his righteousness? Let’s see if you affect his car, his house, his kids, his job, his finances will he still maintain his faith in you? i believe if you put him in that type of state then he’s going to be in a space where he’s going to turn away because now he has to deal with the situation and circumstance that is outside of his norm and that is now uncomfortable and more than likely, he will sin against you being in that state because sin because a more likely choice due to the pressures of life. So now God is like well, I can see your reasoning, I don’t believe he will but those are good points okay, well let’s put it to the test. Let’s see if all of this is true if what you’re saying is true I’ve made a situation where Job has been blessed to receive financial wealth, support, security and hasn’t had need of many things being in that state. Let’s see if he still maintain his righteousness if you were to take that away from him, so you know, I’ll give you liberty to do as you will to see that accomplished just don’t hurt him. Due what you will with everything else.

This is more so the situation when we look at Job and we look at the conversation The Most High God was having with Satan. It wasn’t just, as we dealt with earlier, hey you know just make this righteous person suffer. As you understand the true breakdown of what’s happening here as I’m expanding on, it becomes imminently more human imminently more relatable to what it is that The Most High is having us go through. Ultimately improving us because the test becomes much easier to overcome when you have substantial finances. Even as the scriptures teach us money answers all things and our afflictions can be solved through an increase of finances. Not all of them, but many of them. So it can be frustrating to know when when you finally do fix your financial problems to be able to deal with a lot of the things that you’re going through in life and why won’t God bless you with more. However, that is not the right mindset to take. As it’s also one of those things to where it’s easy to say what we would and would not do when we haven’t been faced with that type of eminent threat or situation. It’s easy to say, “oh I wouldn’t steal”but that’s often because you haven’t been put in an impoverished state to where stealing seems like the only option. Or has been something that has been a considerable or relatable temptation when one is in that same state. There’s certain states of being that are universally acknowledge to be very difficult to then fight not to move in an adverse way according to the word of The Most High God. So now what if you are put in the situation where you lost your job and with that you’re losing your main source of income that you would have and you’ve been without that job for at least six months and you still can’t find work you don’t have a nest egg anymore and you don’t have anyone else to lean on for support and you’re running on fumes and you’re racking up credit card debt. You’re taking out loans and wondering when will these things improve? When will they be made better and it seems as if you’re without hope or even worse, forsaken and now when you don’t have you’re down to your last bag of rice in your cabinet, what would you do? And until you’ve been in that state it could be harder to say, “oh no, I still would not steal or rob another person.” When some people are in a place where they are no where near in that state and still haven’t stopped stealing from their jobs but oh that’s different. No, still stealing. Lesser evil or greater evil is still evil. We take stuff from people we know we count as borrowing. I just borrowed it. No, you stole it and still ain’t returned it. But it’s okay because they owed you anyway.

Again, another example of I would never do that. You are in a romantic relationship, you are going through what feels like constant verbal disagreements or arguments with your spouse. You’re in a state where your desire for companionship is increasing while your partners is decreasing. To the point where they don’t desire those things and what turned from a day turns into a week and then turns into a month and even turns into several months where you’re not getting the satisfaction that you desire or that you are looking for and then someone who seems to have all the areas of their pie chart filled in the way you like comes along. They’re charming they seem like they have a higher level of emotional intelligence and their compassionate, and their physically attractive both in face and body and you’re still dealing with all these other things but this person is there, you know and they’re constantly there physically and emotionally but you know if you engage with this person it is adultery because they are married and that can become a different level of challenge to have in your mind and at all times say hey, I’m not gonna cross that line, and I am going to ensure I cut off all communication and avoid this person. Especially when I know that is my situation, this wouldn’t be conducive, you know that this would be lame of fire worthy sin if I were to cross this line. Need I be a man or a woman because if I’m a man and I’m dealing with this mans wife she’s married then I can’t. I can’t take that chance even if everything just seems like man we would be beautiful together or vice versa. If I’m a married woman it’s like this man he just seemed like he has all this but no, I can’t do that because I’m already committed to this man you know but it seems good but it’s really evil.

This is when the test comes in.

This is the real trial. This is the real test, and when it can truly be revealed in terms of what is in you, what are you made of? How would you learn? How would you grow? How would you adapt? And what type of choices or decisions would you make? This is truly what The Most High God is trying to see where is your grit? Where is your quit? Will you endure? And ultimately he’s going to try you and he tries us not only or rather not really for him to see, cause it’s not really the biggest thing for him to see because he knows but rather it’s for others of the heavenly realm because they’re not all knowing or all powerful they’re limited. But most importantly really for us to see and know, to improve our own selves to ourselves that I did it or hey, I ultimately did not do it or I fell short.

Proverbs 24:16 KJV

For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.

It’s not always about you fell short or you failed again, no. It’s about how you fought until you couldn’t fight anymore, you didn’t give up. You endured and when you fell you rose up again. Everything is meant to build us up to make us stronger, make us better, as long as we’re willing to make the choices to do so. And this was truly Jobs trial. And trial of us all.

Sirach 27:5 KJVA

The furnace proveth the potter’s vessels; so the trial of man is in his reasoning.