Job 6 & 7; Psalm 4:4
Spiritual Warfare
Be angry, and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still. Selah. Psalm 4:4 NKJV
We are going through the book of Job and have just completed chapters 6 & 7 which are at the beginning of a long and frustrating dialogue between Job and his friends as to why these tragedies happened to him. It would seem to us that Satan was out of the picture after the second chapter but this is not the case. Satan's goal was to prove to God that Job would curse God to His face. So far, Job has not done this, but Satan is not done by a long shot. It is apparent that Satan has taken his battle from the physical world to the world of the mind. It is the place the Bible calls the soul. Paul quotes Psalm 4:4 in his letter to the Ephesians chapter 4 verse 26, but he added, “or give place to the devil" vs 27 NKJV.
What makes the book of Job long and difficult is that Job and his friends had done just that; given the Devil a place to dwell. That place was their minds. Devil means deceiver. The Devil's goal is to convince Job that God is against him and has treated him unjustly. He is also using Job's friends to try and convince him that all this happened to him because of some hidden sin. The anger and frustration grows and grows to the point where it could quite possibly even affect us. When action is taken from these feelings the Devil's deception has worked.
It may seem to us that Job is justified to be angry. (Job 6:3) It also seems that venting his anger would be a good thing. But the dialogue that continues chapter after chapter should tell us that these offer little help if any at all.
So what should we do? Well, the verse we started with is a good place to start, but let’s look at verse 5 of Psalm 4. “Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord.” NKJV
When attacked and tempted to act out, this Psalm says to take a step back and rethink the events and consider how you are planning to respond. Remember verse 4 says, “Be angry, and do not sin.” This is stepping back. There is not a denial of anger here nor is anger to be stuffed. My response needs careful consideration. So I ask myself, what is the source of the response I am considering? Usually it is the flesh. If it is the flesh then I need to ask myself, who am I serving, God or the devil?
Over the years I have learned to ask myself the following question before I confront someone about something that I am angry about. How is God glorified in what I am about to do or say? I want to offer a right sacrifice. I may have to search the scriptures to see how God would have me respond, but my ultimate goal is to glorify God and not act on impulse. When the temple soldiers came to arrest Jesus, Peter drew his sword and cut off the ear of one of the servants. Jesus said to Peter, How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?” “Put your sword in its place, for all who live by the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? Matthew 26:52-54 NKJV
Jesus knew the scriptures, He knew God’s plan, He trusted His Father and acted accordingly. God also had a plan for Peter, but he was acting according to the flesh and could have lost his life. This is why the flesh must be sacrificed. As it turned out Peter would experience some painful lessons over the next few days but these lessons would teach him to trust God so he could carry out God’s plan for Peter instead of his plan.
The same is true for Job and his friends when they are all exhausted having come to the end of their arguing according to the flesh. God will speak and put everything in order. It seems like it takes what it takes to get to that point, but for me, my prayer is Lord, how do I glorify you in this?
Food for Thought
Dave