Job 1:6-12

We now come to the scene in heaven. I think we should be careful about trying to read too much into every little detail, but rather accept it as a rough picture of what was happening. The word translated "angels" in NIV is actually "sons of God". Satan, which means adversary or accuser, is marked out separately.

The Lord spoke highly of Job, He called him "my servant" and described him as blameless and upright. Satan replies that Job is good only because the Lord protects him and blesses him with prosperity. Satan calls on God to strike Job and then see what happens.

God's response is surprising to us and does not fit any neat theology, and certainly not any prosperity gospel theology. The Lord agrees. Note that He does this by giving Satan power, but limited power, to strike Job. Satan could attack anything that Job has except his own person.

So what are we to make of all this? First note that God has a high opinion of Job, Satan does not. God loves man, Satan hates man. It upsets any neat formula for why people suffer (as does most of the Bible!). Now some suffering is the direct result of sin and the direct result of God's judgement on sin. We have recently read the books of Jeremiah and Lamentations which makes that abundantly clear. So any theology that says suffering is never related to sin and judgement is just so much rubbish. However, you cannot say that all suffering is a result of sin. The Psalmist often complained about the righteous suffering and the wicked prospering, then there are the words of Jesus on the matter (Luke 13:1-5; John 9:3).

A key aspect of this is that God has confidence in Job. He knows that Job will go through all sorts of agonies and torment, even accusing God of various wrongs, but in it all Job will not lose his faith. So this represents a victory for God and in it all Job's faith and knowledge of God is deepened. You see man is the pinnacle of God's creation, Satan thinks he has ruined God's treasured possession, but he has not. Despite all his worst efforts, through the blood of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit there will be a people who truly love God, despite all that happens.