When difficulties come into our life or some problems arise, the usual reaction is: “God allowed this situation so that I would gain wisdom” or “When I have problems in my life, I am closer to God”, or “God is testing me to strengthen my faith.” In fact, such thoughts come from not knowing the heart of our loving Father. Very often we judge God’s attitude toward us by outward circumstances, and we also look at our relationship with Him through the prism of how our parents raised us as children.

We know that God is almighty, so when some problem arises in our life, the first thing that comes to mind is that the Lord allowed it for some reason. And after that it depends on how much imagination each person has. In fact, such thoughts arise from unbelief in God’s goodness. Perhaps you have heard unbelievers, and sometimes believers, say: “If God is so good and loving, why do millions of people die in the world from all kinds of disasters?” It’s as if, were they gods, the situation would be much better. God really is almighty, but He is also just, or constant, for God is light, and with Him there is no shadow of turning. [1 Jhn.1:5; Jas.1:17] It is also written that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” [Heb.13:8]. This means that when He gave the earth into the hands of a man named Adam, He did not take it right back after Adam failed and the devil took that authority from him by deception. [Ps.115:16] It is written that God’s gifts are irrevocable. [Rom.11:29] In other words, if God has given something, He will never take it away. So Job was clearly mistaken when he said: “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away…” [Job.1:21]

Righteousness by Works

Indeed, reading the story of Job, especially the first chapters, one may get the impression that God suddenly decided to test Job’s faith and obedience and handed him over to Satan to be torn to pieces. After all, it was clearly not God’s punishment, because Job didn’t seem to have done anything bad, and it is written about Job: “that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.” [Job.1:1] “And if that happened to Job, none of us is safe from it,” a frightened Christian will think. But if you look closely at what the Lord said to Satan, and also take into account that the devil had a certain authority, a completely different picture emerges.

When Adam ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the ground was cursed and doomed to decay. [Gen.3:17] Sin entered the world, and death reigned. [Rom.5:17] But even before Jesus died on the cross and took the keys of death from the devil, people were under God’s protection, and the Lord blessed all their works, as long as they worshiped Him. In the story of Job, the devil said to the Lord: “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land“. [Job.1:9-10] You see, the key to God’s blessings in Job’s time was to fear God, or in other words to worship the true God, the Creator of heaven and earth, and not dumb idols.

When the devil came to the Lord, he came as the accuser, or slanderer [Rev.12:10] Reading verse 12: “And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.”” [Job.1:12], one might think: there, the Lord removed His hand of protection. But in fact the Lord was protecting Job with His words. The Lord already knew that the slanderer had found a pretext to accuse Job, so He said: “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” [Job.1:8] But the enemy had a pretext, so the Lord knew that Satan had the authority to harm Job.

The key to understanding what the devil found to accuse Job with lies in the fifth verse. It is written there that Job regularly offered burnt offerings for his sons, but not for himself. [Job.1:5] Why? Because he considered his sons sinful and himself righteous. No wonder he later said to his friends: “I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; My justice was like a robe and a turban. I was eyes to the blind, And I was feet to the lame. I was a father to the poor, And I searched out the case that I did not know.” [Job.29:14-16] That is, his righteousness was by his works, not by faith. That is the whole problem!

By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous
–Hebrews 11:4

When a person tries to be righteous before God through his own works, he falls under the enemy’s accusation. Let’s put it simply: “If Job had offered a sacrifice to God for himself, nothing would have happened to him and his family.” That is exactly what Abraham did all the time, and so he was always in God’s favor. But Lot was righteous by works, not through faith, and that is why he lost everything. [2 Pet.2:7] Why do I think Lot was righteous by works? Because when Abraham suggested that they separate, Lot chose the best part. And why? Because he thought he deserved that part more than Abraham. But Abraham didn’t care, because he relied not on his own works but on God, who could make fertile land even out of a desert.

Now you understand that the Lord was on Job’s side, but his self-righteousness led to this situation. And when a person relies on his own works for his justification before God, the Lord can do nothing. No wonder Jesus said as He looked at Jerusalem: “How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” [Mat.23:37] Not willing to do what? To receive Christ as their righteousness, relying on their own righteousness, which is by works. [Rom.10:3]

In this story Job is precisely a type of Israel, which rejected the sacrifice of Christ, but just as the Lord saved Job, so the Lord will save all Israel. James writes to the Jews: “You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord; that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.” [Jas.5:11], and Paul also: “And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob” [Rom.11:26] Just as the Lord was compassionate and merciful to Job, so He is merciful to the Jewish people.

God’s Righteousness

As for us who have believed in Jesus, we are in a much better position than Job — unless, of course, we follow the foolish example of the Galatians and begin to live like Job, relying on our own righteousness. Glory to the Lord that the slanderer has been cast down and can no longer come into God’s presence to slander us, but the battle takes place in the mind, and if we live in our own obedience to God and not in the obedience of Jesus Christ, the enemy will always have a pretext to accuse us, and self-condemnation, as you know, leads to destruction.

The Lord has already done everything for us. He even offered the sacrifice to God for us, so that God would forever see us as righteous. That is why the enemy was cast down — because the Lord deprived him of every opportunity to accuse us before God. Paul writes: “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” [Rom.8:33-34] The Lord has stripped the enemy of the power to accuse God’s people before Him. So today the enemy has only one way left — deception. Through false teachers and false prophets he imposes the law on God’s children, and with it condemnation and all kinds of curses.

So if there is some difficulty or problem in your life, however heavy it may seem, know that it is one hundred percent not from your loving Father, and not because He decided to test your faith, and not to make you wiser. All of this is the enemy’s deception. You don’t need difficulties in life to become wiser. Christ who lives in you is your wisdom. Everything you need is already inside you. “Christ in you, the hope of glory” [Col.1:27] The Lord says: “Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me. Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake… No weapon formed against you shall prosper” [Isa.54:15,17] When will the problem that the enemy has created in our situation by deception not prosper? Let’s read on: “This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the LORD.” [Isa.54:17] When our righteousness is from Him, and not from our works and deeds.

When I was thinking about all this, the Lord said to me: “I did not come to change the world, as many try to change it, but I came to be the door into a completely different world, which is called the Kingdom of God.” Indeed, Jesus testified to Pilate: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” [Jhn.18:36] Even though we are in this world, we are not of this world, just as our Lord is not of this world. Our homeland is the Kingdom of God, which is already inside us. And we show this Kingdom to those around us when we walk in the Spirit and in His righteousness, for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but the righteousness of Christ, His shalom and His joy in the Holy Spirit! [Rom.14:17]