I spent several months last year digging deep into Job. Now, on Sunday mornings, we’re going over the book in class, so a lot of thoughts are coming back to me. One that stands out has to do with the fateful day when God offered up Job to Satan as a man He knew would remain faithful. I can’t help but wonder how I would react under those conditions. How would you react? Imagine if the Lord said to Satan: “Have you considered my servant __________ (you)?”
Then what?
Maybe we resist, like Job did. Maybe we stumble. It’s nice to think about the former, but the reality is: The latter is our lot in life. We stumble. We yield to temptation. We indulge. We sin. Satan considered us, tempted us, and led us into iniquity.
Then what?
When we stumble, Satan rejoices…but then what? We can repent and be forgiven, instantly undoing all that Satan achieved. How frustrating that must be for the Devil! He can’t win unless we lay down and let him, and even when we do lay down, we can always get back up and undo it. That is the victory we have in Jesus. That is the victory Job could only look forward to…
For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
(Job 19:25)
We may read a verse like Romans 3:23 (“all have sinned…”) and come away thinking that Satan is a winner, but no: Satan is a loser. Everyone has sinned, it is true, but everyone also has access through Jesus Christ into soul-saving grace (Romans 5:2), rendering all of Satan’s “wins” futile and moot.
I don’t believe in “once saved, always saved.” At the same time, I don’t believe Christians are constantly walking on the edge of damnation, living in perpetual fear that God will cut us loose. The fact is, if we are faithful, we will never have anything to worry about, and if we are not faithful, we have everything to worry about. But here’s another way to look at it… Instead of thinking: “If we let up even a little, then the Devil wins!” think about it like this: “In order for Satan to win, we would have to give up on God over and over and over, because the moment we stop giving up on God, Satan loses all over again, and we win.” In that case, it’s hard to be lost, isn’t it?
~Matthew