Sunday, February 27, 2011

Job's Losses

Job's Losses
Feb 28, 2011
Job 1:10 "'Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land.'"

Most everyone is familiar with the story of Job. He was a wealthy, God-fearing man, who had never suffered until the Lord allowed Satan to attack him. In a few quick blows, Satan destroyed the man's family, wealth, and health, leaving him completely destitute. Job didn't deserve such harsh treatment; even the Lord God said Job was blameless and upright, that he had lived a life of righteousness. Nonetheless, Job was attacked by Satan and most everything dear to Job was taken away from him. Job suffered great losses, far more than you and I have probably experienced. What is interesting about the story of Job is the initial conversation held between God and Satan, just prior to Satan's attack on Job. I don't quote Satan very often, but Satan said to God, "'Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land.'"

Satan declared that the reason and cause of Job's comfortable life was the protective hedge God had placed around Job. Satan was obviously aware of this protective hedge; it is probable he tried to penetrate it on numerous occasions to no avail. Satan knew he was unable to permeate the protective hedge placed around Job's life, unless God removed that protection. Satan was powerless over Job's life because of God's covering. This protection, the Lord's hands around Job, allowed Job a safe and successful life. Job was taken care of by God, and Satan could do nothing to thwart that in Job's life. Then in an act of sovereignty, God removed the protective hedge around Job and allowed Satan to physically and spiritually test him. Without God's hand of protection, Satan was able to inflict great losses on Job.

Job understood this, the fact that the hand of God had protected him for so long, for so many years, making his life comfortable. Listen to Job's own words, after Satan had penetrated God's hedge around him:
"'How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me, when his lamp shone on my head and by his light I walked through darkness! Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God’s intimate friendship blessed my house, when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me, when my path was drenched with cream and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil.'"

Job was remembering, and knew what it was like to live with God's protective hedge around him. You, too, may have experienced this at one time, the wonderful covering of God's protective hedge around your life. But Satan has been hard at work attacking you, doing his best to steal from all that God has made blessed in your life. Satan has inflicted you with losses, leaving you destitute in some area. It is painful to lose all that was comfortable in your life, the things God had blessed you with. Satan has stolen from you and your losses seem great.

This is your opportunity to pray against Satan's attack in your life, to petition the Great Shepherd to keep His hands of protection over you. Every day is a new opportunity for Satan to surmount his attack on you and your loved ones. He longs to inflict you with losses and steal all that God has made blessed. Do not give up without a prayerful fight each and every day. Pray for God's covering, for the protective hedge that Job lived under. Live a life of righteousness and do your best to stay under the covering of the Lord Most High. It is the only way to reduce the losses that Satan wants to inflict on you today.

1. What losses have you suffered lately?
2. What is the probability that Satan was the cause of those losses?
3. How can you live and pray in such a way to keep God's protective hedge around you?

Don't take my word for it; look it up: Job 1, Job 29

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