We just began a study of Job in the Sunday morning chapel class. As I listened to Frank summarize the initial attack against Job by the Devil, I was struck by a thought…
God knew Job would resist the Devil and remain faithful, but Satan did not know. God is not bound by time the way a man, an angel, or a demon is. God could see the end of it before it happened, but not the Devil. Satan presumed the worst about Job. He said, without any knowledge, that Job would curse the Lord if all his pleasures and comforts were taken away. God, on the other hand, knew better, and yet the Lord never said to Satan: “Job will not curse Me.” He never said “Job will remain faithful.” He knew, but He let Job make His own decisions.
Satan will presume the worst about us because that’s the arena in which he fights. He tries to bring the worst out of us. He doesnt know whether we will indulge or not, but he hopes we will, and since he’s watched humanity fall into sin time and again from the beginning, he presumes the worst in all of us. God, however, knows we are capable of doing good. He made us in His image, after all. And while He knows all the times we will fail, He also sees the times in which we rise to the occasion and resist the Devil. Through it all, He remains at our side, a constant Companion and a true Friend.
I would rather follow a God who knows me—warts and all—and still loves me, than a Devil who doesn’t know me, but always assumes the worst about me.
~Matthew