How blessed it must have been to dwell so protected! The work of Job's hands was prospered--his substance increased in the land, and he became the greatest as well as the best of all the men of the East, for in that day GOD manifested His approval largely, though not solely, by the bestowal of temporal blessings.
Is there no analogous spiritual blessing to be enjoyed now-a-days? Thank GOD, there is. Every believer may be as safely kept and as fully blessed, though, perhaps, not in the same way, as Job--may be delivered from the power of the enemy, and preserved in a charmed circle of perfect peace. The conditions are simple, and are given us by the Apostle Paul in the 4th chapter of Philippians, v. 4-7, "Rejoice in the LORD always ... Let your moderation [your gentleness, or yieldingness] be known unto all men. The LORD is at hand." Not your power of resistance of evil, and of "maintaining your own rights;" but your spirit of yieldingness, believing that the LORD will maintain for you all that is really for your good; and that in any case, He is at hand, and will soon abundantly reward fidelity to His command. And lastly, "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto GOD. And the peace of GOD, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through CHRIST JESUS."
How is it that believers so often fail to enjoy this promised blessing? Is it not that we fail to be anxious for nothing, and to bring everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving before GOD? We may bring nine difficulties out of ten to Him, and try to manage the tenth ourselves, and that one little difficulty, like a small leak that runs the vessel dry, is fatal to the whole; like a small breach in a city wall, it gives entrance to the power of the foe. But if we fulfil the conditions, He is certainly faithful, and instead of our having to keep our hearts and minds--our affections and thoughts--we shall find them kept for us. The peace, which we can neither make nor keep, will itself, as a garrison, keep and protect us, and the cares and worries will strive to enter in vain.
THE TESTING OF JOB
Reverting to the history of Job: the great accuser, having no fault to find with his character or life, insinuates that it is all the result of selfishness. "Doth Job fear GOD for nought." Indeed, he did not, as Satan well knew! Nor has anyone, before or since, ever feared GOD for nought. There is no service which pays so well as the service of our HEAVENLY MASTER; there is none so royally rewarded. Satan was making a true assertion, but the insinuation he connected with it, that it was for the sake of this reward that Job served GOD, was not true.
To vindicate the character of Job himself in the sight of the angels of GOD, as well as of the evil spirits, Satan is permitted to test Job, and take away all those treasures for the sake of which alone Satan imagined, or pretended to imagine, that Job was serving GOD. "All that he hath," said GOD, "is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand."
SATAN'S MALIGNITY.
And soon Satan showed the malignity of his character by bringing disaster after disaster upon the devoted man. By his emissaries he incited the Sabeans, and they fell upon the oxen and the asses feeding beside them, slaying the servants with the edge of the sword, suffering one only to escape--and this, not in any pity or sympathy, but that he might bear the message to his unhappy master, telling of the destruction of his property and servants. The evil one appears, also, to have had power to bring the lightning from heaven--by which the sheep, and the servants caring for them, were destroyed. Here, again, one servant only was left, by his message to increase the distress of the afflicted man of GOD.