#637 Fashionable Integrity

Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 3 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” 4 Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” 6 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.”

7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.

9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”[a] In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Job's Three Friends

11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. Job 2 ESV

Not again, and there is a certain arrogance in Satan going to and fro, walking up and down on it. God has Abraham walk a country that does not belong to him, he measures out it's borders and when Satan tempts Christ, does he not say all this can be yours, I will give it to you, just worship me? That is a long road to walk, so for now, "have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth?" It is like the "And Still", at the end of a fight, when the champion has held on, even if it was just barely. The devil doesn't like defeat, his pride cannot accept truth, so he has pondered this for a time, and he is back for a rematch. Job still wears this belt of integrity around his waste, but "I have studied it and I know the answer this time. Skin for skin, You, oh God, have given this human an easy out. Sure he loved his children, his things, but there have been those who eat their own, sacrifice their own children, when it will save their own life. How many times have I walked the markets of this quaint earth and heard 'it was me or him, so I disposed of him, I turned him over.' " 

He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour. John 12: 25-26

The devil' logic here is fairly sound, for there are some who would site the reason for their disbelief as the suffering of others. Many have left the faith they thought they had when a loved one has died. Job retained his religious integrity, so maybe he is just callous, but something does not fit here, for if he was then he hid it well. Nevertheless, God removes His hand and allows Satan to attack his flesh, but spare his life. Now surely he will curse God, and this stains my own eyes, lays bare my own soul, for I did not have this sort of integrity as a young man. I was angry at God for my epilepsy, that I was not always strong, and I cursed and looked for ways to destroy myself the quicker. 

Now he is covered in hot, painful boils, from head to toe, and so how can a man find peace or rest like this? It is not just the pain, but imagine the lack of relief from the pain, the itching that won't stop, and so he tries to treat himself with a potsherd while sitting in the ash. I remember my worse times with pain, while waiting for surgery, once for sinus and the other for a tumor in my jaw. It is more than pain, it is madness, a craziness that sets in when the painkillers won't kill the pain, but cause the disruption of all else. You sleep for minutes at a time, sitting up, never knowing rest and it goes on for weeks. The sound of a spoon hitting the floor, might as well be a tree crashing through your roof and finding your head. Few would take this load from others, stand in this gap, if they could, but why God doesn't make it go away, why do the wicked fare so much better? 

Satan has left Job something, his wife, a woman who has lost her children and so we must proceed with empathy, but this is an angle that has worked for the devil before. "Do you still hold fast your integrity?" And what was the wager? That Job would curse God, and what does she tell him to do? "Curse God and die." Deny God His right over His creation. Don't sit here dying when you can be dead, curse Him and He may finish you, or kill yourself and be over this. I feel more sorrow for her than I do Job in this, for her god died with all the things she lost, her god was only worthy when she was doing well. Job still has his integrity, because his God is still alive. He is not mean in his answer, does not refer to his own wife as a fool, but tells her she sounds like those that are right now. He calls her back from it with reason, shall we receive good from Him only? Is he not God in the ashes just as much as He was God when our glasses were full and our sorrows empty? In all this he did not sin with his lips, he held his tongue. He did not attack his wife or God. This is a difficult place for her, her own demons are eating at her heart. Look at my husband, he is no longer strong, no longer handsome, he was the pride of mine eyes for how high he was held up by the community. We were wealthy, the envy of neighbors, enemies and the delight of our friends. This is not what she signed up for. 

His friends: these first 3 mentioned were golden in their silence. Weep with those who weep. Carry each others burdens. Come down here to me, to my sorrow, look into my place, the place of lost hope, of trouble. This is the most wisdom they could show, they sat with him in silence, identifying with him as a brother, a friend, for seven days. They humbled themselves, tearing their robes and covering themselves with dust, for that is where we will all return, but Job, how could this happen to him? 

The poor man pleads for mercy, but the rich man answers harshly. 24A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who stays closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24

Why should the fool have money in his hand with no intention of buying wisdom? 17A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Proverbs 17:16-17