Incited

  1. Satan again appears before God at the appointed meeting time of all the sons of God.
  2. We don’t know how much time has passed. You can read Job and it can feel like a week went past and everything was restored.
  3. It’s not that simple. We don’t know how much time has passed since all the tragedies happened. It was enough time for Satan to be walking around on the earth again.
  4. God again points out Job to Satan. Satan is mad. He lost the last round. It didn’t have the desired effect. God proved right and Job still feared God.
  5. Satan has a plan to hurt Job. God leaves him to it with the boundary in place not to kill him. Satan has to act within God’s boundaries.
  6. God accuses Satan of inciting Him against Job. God is the one who points out Job, but Satan produces the challenge. God knew all this. He baited Satan into inciting Him against Job.
  7. God doesn’t plan the evil against Job, but He knows what will happen. It’s all within His powerful, loving hands and within His faithful and good purposes.
  8. God knows how it will all end. Job doesn’t.
  9. Job is covered in painful sores everywhere. He can’t stand, sit, or lie down. Every position hurts.
  10. Job’s experience was hard. It was very hard. He didn’t know the ending. He didn’t know if he was going to remain like this until he died.
  11. It’s much harder to have enduring patience when you don’t know if there is an end in sight. It’s hard enough when you know there is an end but just don’t know when it will come. How much harder when you don’t know if this suffering will ever end?
  12. A week passes in this chapter while he’s covered in sores. Then we’ll have the long conversation between Job and his friends. Then healing will come. We know it won’t be too long at this point, at the end of this chapter, but he doesn’t know if it will ever end.
  13. And we know all things will be restored, but Job doesn’t.