Have you considered my servant?

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. – Job 1:8

Job’s story gives us an incredible insight into a much bigger picture. He consistently obeyed and trusted God, yet God permitted Satan to attack him in an exceptionally harsh manner. If we look beyond the tragedy we can see that God knew Job. He saw his devotion and heart and knew that there was nothing Satan could do that would change it. He knew that incredible good would come from all that Job would experience. Just think of the many people over thousands of years, who have found hope in his story of faithfulness.

We also see that Satan has many limitations and cannot do anything without permission. This means that every trial and test that we face is filtered through the loving hands of God and has a purpose. They are meant to build our faith and trust in God. What a message it sends to an unbelieving world when we face trials of many kinds and we can still proclaim, “I know that my Redeemer lives!”

When troubles come, we can ask God, Why me? or we can say, Use me! It’s in those moments that we discover if we are fair-weather believers, following God only when everything is going well or if we will allow adversity to strengthen our faith by causing us to dig our roots deeper into God in order to withstand the storms.

God knew the eventual outcome of Job’s story just as He knows the outcome of ours. If we weren’t able to be victorious, God would not allow it. When God considers you, thinks about you, and allows trials and tempations, it’s because He knows you. He knows your heart and devotion to Him. He knows that He will bring good from the situation. He knows that your faith will increase and He will bring you to the victory that awaits you on the other side.