How to Use the Blue Letter Bible App + “Surprise!”
Surprise!
Last night I was saying “Blessed be the name of the Lord,” and I began to think of Job. Job surprised Satan! Job did the opposite of what Satan expected and predicted.
Job Chapter 1, in a nutshell, goes like this:
1. Job is introduced as a great, godly man… “the greatest of all the men of the east.”
2. “…there was a day…” where Satan presented himself before God…He tells God he’s been walking “to and fro” in the earth…
3. God asks Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job?” God goes on to pay Job some very high compliments.
4. Satan goes on to say, “Of course he fears you” …you have protected him, blessed him, and increased him. “But put forth thine hand now and touch all that he has, and he will curse You to Your face.” Satan “knows” what Job’s response will be.
5. God grants Satan permission to do anything he wants in Job’s life, with the exception of touching Job’s personal body. (v. 12)
6. Satan goes on a destructive rampage in Job’s world. “There was a day…” (v. 13) On that day, he lost his oxen, his servants, his sheep, and his camels. Then, a final, devastating “volley” of news is delivered: all TEN of his children have tragically died when a house caved in on them. In a “quadruple-whammy,” Job is assaulted with the news of brutal loss once, twice, three times, four times…in one day. Utter calamity. Total ruin. All that was “his” at 7 a.m. was gone by 4 p.m. (All times are approximate.) His serene, peaceful, plentiful life was shattered. Gone “up in smoke” or down in pieces. It really is hard to imagine this level of loss.
7. Then, Job surprised Satan: “Then Job arose, and tore his garments, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped. And said, “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord…” (vv. 20-21) I actually think it was more than a surprise. I think it was a shock! Satan had planned on a particular response from Job. He had already scripted how the story was going to go down in his mind, and he had boldly communicated that to God: “He will curse you to your face.”
Chapter 2:
1. Satan comes back to God, and God again “flaunts” Job to Satan: “He still holds fast his integrity…” in spite of all you’ve destroyed.
2. Satan responds by saying: That’s because he still has his health… “Touch his bone and his flesh and he will curse You to Your face.” Once again, Satan presumes he knows the outcome.
3. God grants Satan permission to touch Job’s body with only the exception of sparing his life.
4. Satan strikes Job with sore boils from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet.
5. Job sits down in the ashes of his former life and scrapes his body with a piece of broken pottery.
6. Satan waits.
7. Job’s wife comes along and echoes the words of Satan’s prediction to God: “Curse God and die…” Wow. What a word of encouragement from his dear wife!
8. Satan waits. Surely any moment it will happen. Job’s pain will override his faith and he will surely curse God now.
9. His response to his wife confirmed what God knew of him from the start. Job turns to Mrs. Job and says, “You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?”
Satan had predicted cursing. But Job blessed God and accepted the hand that had been dealt to him. Satan was shocked. Satan was stunned. Satan was floored. He had been absolutely sure that he knew the ultimate outcome of Job’s saga, but, boy, was he wrong. He got a surprise.
Job’s story carries on, and we see that Job was not without an insane amount of personal pain, yet he remains faithful to his God. His story, in spite of utter loss and calamity in the beginning, ends with a fresh, revolutionized view of God, personal repentance, sacrificial worship, prayer for his friends, and God not only restoring his losses, but doubling his losses.
Surprise!!
Oh, to live a life that surprises Satan!! He thinks the waves will drown us, but we keep on treading. He thinks the whispers of despair and hopelessness will convince us to give up on God and maybe even life, but we hold onto the life preserver of faith and refuse to let go. He sees us stumble and falter and fail and counts us out of the race, but we get back up and keep on running with bloody knees. He sees our losses and our crosses and assumes that their collective weight on our backs will be more than we can bear…he assumes their heaviness will see us sidelined, but we keep on walking in the strength of the Savior. He inflicts wounds. He waits. Life happens. He waits. He observes the searing pain of heartbreak and bides his time through the persistence of heartache. And he waits. He thinks we’ll curse. He thinks we’ll quit. Just like he did with Job, he supposes he knows the outcome. But guess what? He was wrong with Job. Job worshipped. Job accepted. And Job didn’t give up! And, just like that, he’ll be surprised by us! Let’s surprise the devil! With Job, let me refuse to curse God. Instead, let me worship. Let me refuse to do anything but accept the hand that I’ve been dealt. If it has pain, it must have some silver-lining of beauty and joy to find. Let me accept. And let me refuse to quit. Let me endure to the end. Worship. Accept. Keep on keepin’ on! Surprise!
The end of our stories aren’t written yet, but if we can follow in the footsteps of Job…Satan will follow in the footsteps of Satan. (This makes me SMILE! ) He’ll be surprised again.
I have fallen in love with the book of Job, and chapter 42 has become especially precious. Today, I notice that Satan’s surprise ends with a surprise party: “And the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before! Then all his brothers, sisters, and former friends came and feasted with him in his home. And they consoled him and comforted him because of all the trials the Lord had brought against him. And each of them brought him a gift of money and a gold ring. So, the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning” (Job 42:10-12). Feasting with friends and family. Gifts from friends and family. A surprise for Satan. A surprise party for Job!! A double portion from the Lord. Worship. Accept. Don’t quit.
Life lessons from Job that will always leave Satan surprised.
Surprise!
…because of God’s goodness.
…because of God’s patience.
…and because God was the one who set the parameters at the beginning.