Faith to Faithdaily devotional email
In order to understand the book of Job, we must first realize that Job didn’t have the revelation of Satan as we do today; however, he did have a knowledge of sin. Because of this, Job made sacrifices as a means of worship to God, as a covering for the sins his family committed.
The Bible tells us Job continually made the same sacrifice for his children. The sacrifice was to be made only once. Because he did it continually, he sacrificed in unbelief instead of faith; as a result, the thing he feared came upon him (Job 3:25).
Since Job was not aware of a personal devil, he naturally believed everything that happened to him, whether good or bad, came from God. That’s why Job made the statement “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away…” (Job 1:21). He had no knowledge that Satan was the thief; he thought God was!
We understand that Job finally realized the truth of his plight by the statement he made in Job 42:3, “…therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.” Job had begun to see that God was not the cause of his trouble. When Job made a sacrifice in faith for his three friends, the Lord turned Job’s captivity and gave him twice as much as he had before (Job 42:10). Job’s suffering, according to Bible scholars, only lasted about nine months. After that, Job lived 140 more years, according to Job 42:16.
The year of his testing was about 1845 B.C., and if Job was written during Job’s life, it was probably written between 1843 and 1703 B.C.
Through all of his life, Job was safe until he feared and lost his faith. And it wasn’t until his faith was restored that God was able to bless him again. The shield of faith is the only protection from Satan that job had, or anyone else has (Ephesians 6:16). When our shield of faith is down, Satan is able to devour us (I Peter 5:8). God leaves the choice up to us—we can choose life or death, blessing or cursing (Deuteronomy 30:19).