By Reverend Alex Titus
Pastor, Fedha Church KAG
When God is testing your faith, He allows forces to come together to shake you, though He is by your side. Job's faith was in trial; he was tested on all sides yet he remained faithful to God.
The "All Sides" Hedge: Satan claims in Job 1:10-11 that God placed a hedge around Job, his household, and his property on "every side" and dares God to touch it.
Job 1:10-11
"Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!"
Loss of Wealth and Children: Job 1:13-19 details the sequential, rapid destruction of his oxen, donkeys, sheep, camels, servants, and all ten children.
Job 1:13-19
Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house; and a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, when the Sabeans raided them and took them away—indeed they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!" While he was still speaking, another also came and said, "The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell you!" While he was still speaking, another also came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels and took them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!" While he was still speaking, another also came and said, "Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, and suddenly a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you!"
Loss of Health: Job 2:7 describes Satan striking Job with "loathsome sores" from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
Job 2:7
So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
Emotional and Social Trial: Job 2:9 shows his wife urging him to "Curse God and die."
Job 2:9
Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!"
Job's Response: "In all this" Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.
Job 1:21-22
And he said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.
Job 2:10
But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
1 Timothy 6:7
For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
Job maintained his integrity despite the total, comprehensive nature of these trials.
Season of War That Tests Your Love for God
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
This is the time many believers abandon Christianity and go to the world seeking safety or refuge.
2 Timothy 4:10
For Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica—Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia.
Love is the most expensive thing to get in this life, since it is proven through sacrifice.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
It was through love that we are not consumed, but we are preserved. Love protects.
Lamentations 3:22
Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.
Even when we were still sinners, He chose to love us. He took the most painful part of our life that we deserved in order to show us what love stands for. He proceeded even to the cross to demonstrate the true love He has for us.
Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
You cannot love God and also love the world.
1 John 2:15-17
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
The World Defined: In this context, "the world" refers to a system of values, beliefs, and behaviors that are hostile to God, not the physical earth or people, which God loves.
The Conflict: John explains that the "desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life" originate from the world, not the Father.
A Choice of Loyalty: You cannot fully love both the world and God simultaneously; they are mutually exclusive, like oil and water.
The Consequences: The world is temporary ("passes away"), but doing the will of God leads to eternal life.
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