Job was one of God's choice servants. God could point him out to Satan, as one man on earth who feared God in all his ways. "The Lord said to Satan, 'Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.'" (Job 1:8). God says nothing about Job's intelligence or his talents or his wealth - for these have no value to God. He only points out his purity and his uprightness. As in the case of Jesus, it was Job's character and not his accomplishments or his ministry that delighted the heart of God. Even Satan has supernatural gifts and intelligence. He has Bible- knowledge too!! What God looks for however, is character. When God tests us, He tests our character - not our knowledge of the Bible. When God looks for a man whom He can boast in, whom He can point out to Satan, He looks for a man of character - a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God and hates evil. We may have a reputation among other believers for our spirituality. But can God, Who knows us through and through, point us out to Satan? Such a certificate as God gave Job is greater than any earthly honour that we can ever get. All the empty honour of Christendom too is as useless rubbish compared to that. So the most important question is not "What opinion do others have of my spirituality?" but rather "Can God point me out to Satan as one Whom He can boast in?"

When God told Satan about Job, Satan said that Job was serving God because he had benefited and profited thereby. "Satan answered the Lord, 'Does Job fear God for nothing? Hast Thou not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But put forth Thy hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse Thee to Thy face.'" (Job 1:9-11). God refuted that charge and allowed Satan to test Job to find out for himself that his charge was not true. God did that because He knew Job's integrity. How about us? Do we serve God for material profit? Would God have to acknowledge that Satan was right, if Satan pointed to any of us as one who served God for personal gain? True service for the Lord will bring us material loss not gain. The profit will only be spiritual. That which brings material gain, on the other hand, belongs to Babylon and not to the heavenly Jerusalem. God had such confidence in Job that he could permit Satan to test him. Even though Job lost all his children and his property in one day, yet he continued to worship and serve God. He said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." (Job 1:20-22). He knew that all that he had - children and property and even health itself - were God's free gifts to him and that God had every right to take these away when He so desired. One cannot truly worship God until one has forsaken all - that is, given up the right to possess anything as one's own.

God then allowed Satan to go one step further and to afflict Job with boils from head to foot. Sickness is from Satan. But even that can be used by God to sanctify and perfect His servants. Satan's third step was to afflict Job through his wife. "Then Job's wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!" (Job 2:9). It can be quite a test of your sanctification, when your own wife turns against you and accuses you. The Word of God commands: "Husbands, love your wives, and do not be embittered against them.....Love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her."(Col.3:19; Eph.5:25). A husband must never be bitter against his wife under any circumstances, and he must love her at all times. If you have a difficult wife, instead of complaining of your lot in life and envying others who have godly wives, you could look at your circumstances as a means to your own sanctification. God tests you under those very circumstances to see if you qualify to get His certificate of approval. He tests you, when your wife shouts at you and taunts you, to see whether you qualify to be a true representative of Jesus Who was even called insane by His own relatives. The gospel record says, "Jesus' own people......went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, 'He has lost His senses.'" (Mk.3:21). Jesus bore that insult with patience. We are called to follow Him and to represent Him.

Satan's fourth step was to accuse Job through his preacher-friends (Job chapters 4 to 25). This was the hardest blow for Job to bear - because those preachers came to him and acted like prophets of God telling him that all his sicknesses were due to his secret sins. Little did those preachers realise that they were unconsciously acting as agents for the 'Accuser of the brethren' (Rev.12:10). But God permitted them to do that in order to purify Job. We can be overcomers now, even if we lose our property and our children, or if our wives accuse us, or if fellow-believers misunderstand us and criticise us, or if anything else happens that God sees fit to send into our lives. Thus God demonstrates to Satan that He has a remnant on earth, who will not only submit to all His dealings with them, but who will also accept every trial joyfully, convinced that these light afflictions are designed by God to produce for them an eternal weight of glory. The Bible says, "For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen." (2 Cor.4:17,18).

Every trial that we go through is a trial of our faith. Even in Job's time, he could say, "God knows every detail of what is happening to me." (Job. 23:10-Living). Today we can go one step further and say (on the basis of Romans 8:28) that "God PLANS every detail concerning me." Do we really believe, concerning everything that comes across our path, that God has planned it all in perfect wisdom and love, and that His power is almighty enough to deliver us from the testing, when the right time comes? Will God find in you and me those whom He can boldly point out to Satan as men who will never complain or grumble under any circumstance, but who will only give thanks for all things at all times?