Satan on a leash, Job1:8

Satan on a leash

Job1: 8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job?”

When God inserts your name for Job and asks Satan this question you know that your life will never be the same again. This question sets into motion a series of events that are destined to change your life. We would probably never dare to prompt God to ask this question of Satan. I know I prefer to fly under the radar eluding Satan’s detection, but craving God’s attention. But if you spend time in prayer asking to be of use to God and to be used by him then there is a possibility that God will one day ask Satan. “Have you considered my servant?”
You might think that God would ask his question hesitantly. Or, you hope that Satan would respond with, “Why should I be thinking about your servant anyway?” But God asks directly, challenging Satan to consider his servant. God is goading Satan, manipulating and controlling his response. And if that where not enough motivation for Satan, God dares to show off his servant by bragging, “There is no one like him, blameless and upright, etc,etc.” God is acting like a doting Mom showing off her newborn child’s chubby cheeks, she just can’t help herself. If we didn’t know God better we would accuse him of being flippant and taking a chance in offering up his servant for Satan’s usage.
God seems to takes a chance on our response though, for we have been granted a free will. To mitigate this chance, he is faithful and will not to tempt us beyond your capacity to bear. In this way God protects our free will and his Holy Spirit in us.
Job’s free will response is then exactly as God could have predicted, giving credibility to his bragging about his servant. Job falls to the ground, not with a Holy Spirit slaying but with a broken heart. This is worship from the depths of his being and from the depths of his despair. It involves total surrender in the presence of God and is worthy to be called praise.
Has God asked Satan to consider you? Simply for being God’s child, Satan will have his beady murderous eyes on you. So God is very careful with us, we are his precious children, yet he has a right to use us, and he will. This seeming conundrum God balances perfectly because he knows each of us full well. Satan can only consider us if God allows him to. For each one of us God has Satan on a leash of a specific length: no more than we can bear. This is calculated to produce, in the trails and in the end, genuine worship and praise to God. Is this not what we pray for?
In verse 10, Satan seems to charge God with wrongdoing for blessing Job over abundantly. Yet in verse 22, Job, lying naked on the ground having nothing left, does not charge God with wrongdoing. I can imagine Satan, red faced and irate, leaving the presence of God. And God calling out after him, “Ha, so what did you expect from my servant anyway?”

I love you Joe T....wow!
I'm stunned, Job is very, very close to my heart.

A great message for all. Oneagleswings said it all...Wow! This touched my heart too. What an inspiring message.