You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name.

But don’t sing those lyrics.

If you know anything about the Word of God, you’ve probably heard about Job, about his entire family dying; him being covered in boils; and what “God did” to him.

Well, maybe you didn’t know all of that, but you probably know he endured more than any one person should ever have to.

But what you really should know about the Book of Job isn’t how well he teaches us to persevere.

(So here’s where we’re going to tear it apart.)

In the first chapter of Job we learn that he was a very wealthy man. We’re told that his sons and daughters took turns hosting feasts in their homes and that Job regularly offered sacrifices on behalf of his children. Then we see that Satan came to God and they talked about Job. God gave Job accolades. He said there was none on earth like Job.

But Satan disagreed.

Before I go into this further, go take a look at Luke 22:31.

That’s where Jesus tells Peter that Satan has asked to sift him as wheat , but that He prayed for Peter so that his faith would not fail.

What does this mean, and why am I throwing it in right here?

Well, when Satan asked to sift Peter as wheat that meant he wanted to have dominion over him.

And that’s what Satan was gunning for with Job, too.

Satan wanted dominion over Job. He thought it was unfair that God had put a hedge of protection around him. He pretty much told God, “Why wouldn’t Job serve you? Look at what you’ve done for him! If you’d allow pressure to come against him, we’d really see where his heart is.”

This is where the first lie about the character of God is pulled from. It does appear that God allowed Satan to harm Job.

But that’s not true.

God didn’t have a choice.

Satan had every right to go to God and complain, and he had every right TO Job.

Satan has legal dominion in the earth realm after all. Remember, Adam gave it to him in Genesis 3. And because there was no intercessor at that time— there was no Jesus —Satan had a legal right to mess with Job.

God couldn’t say no.

So Satan went after Job’s provision and his children.

That’s where the second lie comes in—another Scripture used to deceive people about the character of God.

Yes, Job lost his children, but notice he didn’t lose his own life, and he didn’t lose his wife.

So, why did he lose his children?

Go back and look for yourself. It’s really interesting to see that Job offered sacrifices for his children continuously. Why? Because he knew there were some things going on in their lives that weren’t right, and the Bible says he was fearful for them.

He was fearful for their lives.

We get confirmation of this later in Job. His children paid the penalty of sin.

We see another lie about the character of God in verse 20 when Job said, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.” (Remember the lyrics I mentioned?)

Man, that song grieves me every time I hear it.

Friend, know this:

You have to take everything in context. It’s in the Bible for a reason, but that reason just might be to teach you what NOT to do, what NOT to say, or how NOT to act.

You MUST look at the person you’re quoting and really make sure they had a proper perception of God when they said whatever they said.

Job didn’t have the right perception.

He lacked knowledge of the character of God. He lived in fear and gave offerings out of fear. His perception was that God gives and takes away.

That was Job’s understanding, but that is NOT true about God.

Think about how great that sounds. Doesn’t that make you want to serve God? He gives and takes away? Wow. Thanks! I can do that myself! It’s a phrase you hear often, but that doesn’t mean it’s truth. That’s just where Job was. That was his perception.

Now, back to the Bible.

Satan comes back to God and tells God Job isn’t as righteous as he appears, and he wants to be able to attack Job’s body.

Once again, God has to say yes. And Job develops boils.

Then we begin to hear some stuff happening. We really start to see Job’s heart.

In 3:25, Job says what he has feared has come upon him.

And there it is.

Job didn’t know God’s character. He was afraid of God. He dreaded these things happening. He gave offerings in his limited knowledge thinking they would appease God.

When his friends came along to talk to him about his heart and his understanding, Job went on a tangent of severe and serious misrepresentations of God.

He said God destroys both the blameless and the wicked.

Do you see anything wrong with that?

I do.

If this was what you thought of God what would you do, you’d give offerings everyday all day long too!

If this were the God you were serving you would think you have to appease him nonstop too. If this is the kind of justice God has then you have to continually perform, right?

Now let’s jump to where God starts talking to Job and dealing with his perception. God shows him the goodness of creation—His goodness, His faithfulness, and what He’s done.

God taught Job about Himself, and Job finally saw that God is good.

Then he repented—from his wrong perception of God; his wrong image of God; a works, fear-based, religious mentality of God, which gave the enemy access to his life. And God blessed Job more than ever before.

Have you believed a lie about the Book of Job? Do you know why those things happened? Do you know the end of the story?

Get your Bible and read the whole thing.

See what you learn.

Then ask yourself if it was God’s will to bring destruction to Job’s life. Ask yourself if it’s God’s will to bring destruction—to bring sickness—to your life.

The Bible says that what God was able to bring about was a good thing. God was faithful to bring wisdom and knowledge to Job. He kept him from incurring destruction.

Job had the victory in the end. And so can you.

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As a friend of Faith Life Now, Drenda and I want to help you.

That’s why we’ve put together a brand-new, powerful mentorship package for you this month. It’s designed to help you move past disappointments and FORWARD into the incredible future God has planned for you.

You can get your INSTANT DIGITAL DOWNLOAD of the NEW four-part teaching set, Disappointed Faith , and the two-part CD set, Help, God! It’s Not Working here.

The post Do You Know the Truth About the Story of Job? appeared first on Gary Keesee Ministries.