One of the greatest evidences of God’s love to those who love Him is to send them affliction,
with grace to bear it.
If trial makes us complain against God, then the devil laughs and is glad.
Trial is the school of trust (1 Peter 1:7).
Job 2
2 And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
3 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? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.
4 And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.
5 But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.
6 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.
7 ¶ 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.
8 And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.
9 ¶ Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.
10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. 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.
11 ¶ Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him.
12 And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven.
13 So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great.
Job 2:1-6 – J. Vernon McGee
Job 2:7-8 – J. Vernon McGee
Job 2:9-11 – J. Vernon McGee
Job 2:12-13 – J. Vernon McGee
Job 2 – “Among the Ashes”
It gives God deep pleasure when He can point to one of His servants who has borne fiery trial with unwavering patience and faith. The adversary comes back from his restless, ceaseless rounds, I Peter 5:8; but there is one soul at least which has resisted his worst attacks. Observing Job, the principalities and powers in the heavenly places have learned that God can make a man love Him, not for His gifts, but for Himself, Ephesians 3:10.
The adversary suggests a severe test, and God permits it because he knows His child. A limit, however, is put upon the ordeal, I Corinthians 10:13. The story is very comforting, because we see that we are not the sport of chance, but in every detail our education is being carried out by our Father’s hand. Our dearest friends may advise us to renounce God and die, but in Gethsemane our Lord taught us to take the Father’s will at all costs—though it seem to spell death—sure that he will not leave us in the grave, Psalm 16:10. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Job 2:3—A perfect and an upright man.
Even God spoke of Job as perfect. Not that he was absolutely so, as judged by the perfect standard of eternity, but as judged by the standard of his own light and knowledge. He was living up to all the requirements of God and man, so far as he understood them. His whole being was open and obedient to the Divine impulses. So far as he knew there was no cause of controversy in heart or life. Probably he could have adopted the words of the Apostle, “I know nothing by myself” (1 Corinthians 4:4). He exercised himself to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and man.
Satan suggested that his goodness was pure selfishness; that it paid him well to be as he was, because God had hedged him around and blessed his substance. This malignant suggestion was at once dealt with by the Almighty Vindicator of the saints. It was as if God said, “I give thee permission to deprive him of all those favoring conditions, for the sake of which thou sayest he is bribed to goodness; and it shall be seen that his integrity is rooted deep down in the work of My grace upon his heart.”
But the book goes on to show that God desired to teach Job that there were flaws and blemishes in his character which could only be seen by comparing it with the more perfect glory of His own Divine nature. His friends sought to prove him faulty, and failed; God revealed Himself, and he cried (Job 40:4; 42:6), “Behold, I am vile; I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
How often God takes away our consolations, that we may only love Him for Himself; and reveals our sinfulness, that we may better appreciate the completeness of His salvation! —Our Daily Homily