Job 1

Job 1:8-9 Then 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, one who fears God and shuns evil?" (9) So Satan answered the LORD and said, "Does Job fear God for nothing?

Have you ever played a game of chess? The game is perfectly designed. Nobody has an advantage. Each piece has a unique move. Even though the pieces battle it out on the board it is truly a battle of wits between the two players sitting across from one another.

Welcome to one of the most unique chapters in the Bible. God is talking to Satan. The battle is over man. The board is earth. The stakes are high. There is one tremendous twist on this game then that of chess, we have a free will.

Satan has one goal and that is to kill, steal, and destroy (okay, three goals). The tremendous mystery here is that God is so deeply involved in our lives that He wants to draw near to us. This is what urks Satan. Satan wants the power that God holds that he might take us and do to us whatever he wishes, much like you would happily sacrifice a pawn in chess. Satan wants the glory, and he figures to use his power to attain it. God, on the other hand, allows us free will to choose to love Him. God seeks relationship, and only seeks our well being.

As we study through the Book of Job, consider, God does not test us simply to agonize us. Reread this chapter and look at God's character. He only thinks the best of us. He is only blessing Job. He calls Job blameless even though we can be certain Job had sinned. He is a caring loving Father, however, when Satan challenges God, God gives Job the most precious gift of all, a chance, on display for heaavenly hosts, to choose God rather than this world. The act of choosing something else, or someone else, over one's own comfort, is love. We all have our challenges before us today and everyone is a chance to prove our love for Jesus. With God it is all about relationship but with Satan, though he may offer us the world, it is all about power. Choose to follow God.