by Tad Lindley
A while ago I was meditating on the book of Job and God spoke to me very clearly about it and about my own life. What follows is the text of that message in several parts. Please cut this out and save it so that you can have it side by side with Part I from last week and Part III next week. If I am able to convey to you what God spoke to me, it will have a powerful impact on your life.
Question #2
In the book of Job, God asks about 86 questions. Most of them come in the back of the book when God gives Job a grueling 82 question interview. In the beginning of the book God has a conversation with the devil and he asks Satan this puzzling question, “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?” The devil responds by telling God that Job is only serving him, because of the blessings. And so God gives the devil permission to take everything from Job. He loses all of his ten children, his respect, his possessions, and then his wife urges him to commit suicide. (Job 1-2)
God, please don’t talk about me to the devil
How many times have I considered the life of Job and thought to myself, “I hope that God never, ever has a conversation with the devil about me. I hope that he never even considers asking, ‘Hast thou considered my servant Tad Lindley?’” And then I have breathed deeply and told myself how unlikely that would be, because I am not much to brag about. God would never be able to say of me that I was perfect. He would never be able to say that there was none like me in all the earth, because I know there are many who have a much deeper walk with God than I do.
What makes you think…
So many times I have considered this in my mind, but then I heard from God. He spoke to my heart these very words, “What makes you think I haven’t already bragged about you?” Yikes! I quickly began to think about my life and realize that where Job fell down on his face and worshipped God in the face of horrific circumstances, that I had simply fallen down and thrown tantrums over far smaller problems in my life.
Would God brag on an imperfect person like me?
When we search the scriptures for any other instance where God may have bragged on a person to the devil, we eventually arrive at the events that happen late in the book of Luke. It was the same night Jesus was arrested. They had finished dinner and Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.” (Luke 22:31) Now there are two ways that Jesus could have known this, he could have simply read Satan’s mind, or he could have had a conversation with him about Peter. The answer to that question lies in the original language of the New Testament. The Greek word translated as desired means to demand. This means that Jesus and Satan must have had a conversation about Peter in which the devil must have said something like, “Peter just serves you, because you’ve built a hedge of protection around him. Remove that hedge! Let me sift him like flour and he’ll deny you to your face!”
If Jesus bragged on Peter…
If Jesus had a conversation with the devil about Peter, that is not good news for you and me. You see, Peter was far from the righteous and upright man that Job was. Didn’t Jesus say to Peter in Matthew 16, “Get thee behind me Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.” (v.23) That’s pretty much the opposite of Job, a perfect and upright man, one that fears God and escheweth evil. (Job 1:8) Guess what this means, if God would have a conversation with the devil about someone as imperfect as Peter, then you and I are not immune.
Jesus lifts the hedge
When Jesus and Satan discussed Peter, Jesus must have said, “Go ahead and sift him then.” Because when we look at what Jesus said to Peter, “Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail thee not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” (Luke 22:31-32) In other words, Peter, Satan demanded it, and I gave permission, and I’m praying that you don’t stumble and fall.
To be continued.
Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, Alaska.
