Hopelessness, Suffering, and Unjust Loss - Part 5
God has only pure love for you! No condemnation. No accusations. No memory of your past failures! Only love and acceptance.
Satan, on the other hand, only lives to steal, kill, and destroy your life (John 10:10). In the scene depicted in the opening chapter of Job, typical of his behavior, Satan tries to falsely accuse Job of being a fair-weather friend of God only, and one who will turn on God and curse him to his face if he experiences hardship.
Do you think this was an isolated incident? Do you think that Job is the only one who ever was the subject of such an accusation? Not at all! The accuser spends his full time pulling these stunts! He is constantly accusing us day and night! (Revelation 12:10)
But the God Who loves us with pure, perfect love is the One on the throne! He is the One who determines what will be allowed and what will not.
But if that is the case, why did this God of love allow Satan to bring such destruction and devastation into the life of Job? Why does He at times allow Satan to bring tragedy and great loss into your life?
The Justice of God
It will be impossible to understand and reconcile in your mind the thought of a perfect, thoroughly good, loving God allowing such evil into our lives unless you also understand that God is a just God and that He makes recompense available for every unjust loss. Everything in the court of heaven is subject to God’s justice.
Just like in a courtroom, there is an accuser, a prosecutor—Satan. But who do we have on our side, defending us? We have the best defender possible! We have none other than Jesus Himself, our Advocate, who ever lives to make intercession for us before God’s seat of justice!
“My little children, I write you these things so that you may not violate God’s law and sin. But if anyone should sin, we have an Advocate (One Who will intercede for us) with the Father—[it is] Jesus Christ [the all] righteous [upright, just, Who conforms to the Father’s will in every purpose, thought, and action].”—1 John 2:1 (AMP)
“Who can say God’s people are guilty [condemn; pronounce punishment]? No one, because Christ Jesus died, but he was also raised from the dead, and now he is on God’s right ·side [hand; Psalm 110:1], ·appealing to God [interceding; pleading] for us.”—Romans 8:34 (Expanded Bible)
“Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”—Hebrews 7:25 (NIV)
Make no mistake! Accusations against us are streaming constantly before the Righteous Judge from the mouth of the Father of Lies, whose whole goal in life is to kill, steal, and destroy—and you are His target (John 10:10).
This is what Jesus described to Peter:
“Simon, Simon (Peter), listen! Satan has asked excessively that [all of] you be given up to him [out of the power and keeping of God], that he might sift [all of] you like grain, But I have prayed especially for you [Peter], that your [own] faith may not fail; and when you yourself have turned again, strengthen and establish your brethren.”— Luke 22:31-32 (AMP)
Why does God allow Satan free reign? He doesn’t. Satan is always limited by God in what he is allowed to do in our lives. Your situation is no different than Job’s. God had set a protective barrier around Job and all that he had so that the devil could not touch him unless God allowed it. If you have placed your trust in Jesus Christ, you have this same level of protection in place. God protects His own!
John Paul Jackson used to tell his story of traveling along the 405 Freeway in California years ago when he was involved in a multi-car collision that propelled his car through the guardrail on an elevated overpass and sent his car hurtling through the air and plunging toward the ground below. He was facing certain death … until something very unexpected happened.
The next moment, instead of being crushed to death on the ground many feet below, he found himself back on the overpass, sitting in his car!
Confused, he quickly found himself surrounded by onlookers who claimed to have seen a huge hand come out of the sky, grab his car, and set it safely back on the bridge!
How do you explain that?
Just as Job had a fence—a barrier—around him that protected him from harm, all those who place their trust in Jesus Christ have this same protective barrier guarding them at all times.
There on the shoulder of the freeway, John Paul explained this truth to those who had seen the giant hand come out of the sky to save him. They knelt down on the concrete and asked Jesus to come into their hearts. This same barrier of protection is available to you and your family, too! Ask Jesus to come into your heart, give your life to Him, and trust Him to give you this same protection.
But why does God allow evil?
It is possible for us to invite evil into our lives through our actions, but this was not the case with Job, and it may not be the case with you. If we’ve done nothing to bring this upon ourselves, why does God ever allow evil into the lives of His children? He doesn’t, unless He knows that the temporary injustice that we will experience will allow Him, in His justice, to repay us in ways that far surpass the losses that we suffered! Job received twice as much as he had before the tragedy came into his life. You may also be entitled to double—or more—than what you lost.
“When someone entrusts money or other items to another person to keep safe and they are stolen from the other person’s house and the thief is caught, the thief must pay back double.”—Exodus 22:7 (CEB)
“People don’t hate a thief who steals to fill his empty stomach. But when he is caught, he must pay seven times as much as he stole. It may even cost him everything he has.”—Proverbs 6:30-31 (NIRV)
In the case of Jesus, His death, which was orchestrated by Satan through the betrayal of Judas, led to salvation and eternal life for millions of others. God, in his wisdom, only allows Satan to inflict tragedy and loss on His people if the resulting justice will far outweigh the losses that we experience.
“None of the rulers of this age recognized and understood this wisdom; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory”—1 Corinthians 2:8 (AMP)
Satan never wins these battles if the Believer truly trusts in the ultimate justice of the Lord and hangs on to see the last chapter written! It is only if we jump ship prematurely, and abandon God and His purposes, that we can prevent ultimate justice from being manifested in our lives.
Next: Pain, Loss, and the Justice of God
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