Along for the ride

I’d not want to be a crash-test dummy. How would it feel (if dummies could feel) to be used by others as part of a protection system check? The dummy has no say in the matter. He is either going to be smashed in the crash, or, if the car’s design is superior, survive one crash only to go for the same ride again the next day.

After reading the book of Job several times, I’ve stopped questioning why God never told this man the reason for all his sorrows, but the real reason is revealed in the first part of the book.

And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. (Job 1:8–12)

Almighty God allowed Satan to test Job. First, Satan was allowed to take his possessions and his children. Later (chapter 2), he also took this man’s health. However, the contest was not so much about Job as it was about the faith that the man had in the Lord. Faith is a gift from God. He makes it ours as we hear His Word. Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes by hearing . . . the Word of God.”

That means that the faith Job had was something God gave him. Satan was challenging that gift. In essence, he said that Job only trusted God because God was so good to him. If everything was taken away, Job’s faith would fail. That is, God’s power to keep His people was being challenged. While God knew Job was blameless and upright, it was not his goodness being put in the crucible. It was his faith, yet not his, but the faith God gave him. Would that faith stand the test?

There are different kinds of faith. One is the hope-so kind. I heard of a Mormon man say on his death bed, “Now I will find out if what I believe is true.” How sad. He had no assurance, probably because his “faith” was based on the teachings of a man and not God. Job’s faith was not a mere “I hope it is true” kind of faith.

Faith can also be temporary. This is the trust a person puts in God in a crisis. They pray for help and deliverance. When life gets better or back to normal, God is forgotten. Temporary faith isn’t good enough for eternal matters either.

Faith can be intellectual as well. The Bible says, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” (James 2:19) Evil spirits know in their minds that God exists and that Jesus died for the sins of the world, yet this makes no difference in the way they act or in their eternal destiny. Job’s faith was not merely intellectual.

Instead, Job trusted God to save him from the penalty of sin (death). This faith changed his life. He became a godly and respected man. He also knew that he would be resurrected from the grave and spend eternity with God. He said, “And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God” (Job 19:26).

His assurance was based on the promises of God and he knew God was true because of the faith God had given him. Several New Testament verses that say the same thing. 

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9)

Satan did take almost all Job had (not his wife), but only because the Lord allowed it. This was a huge test of his trust in God. Would the kind of faith God gives stand the test? Or would it fail and let the crash-test dummy fail with it?

Satan asked to take away all that Job had and then did it, but he could not take away this man’s faith. No matter how hard he crashed Job into walls, dead ends, and over cliffs, his faith held. Job complained and moaned and felt sorry for himself, but he knew that when it was all finished, he would “come forth as gold” (Job 23:10), not because he was faithful, but because God is faithful.

At the end, Job’s losses were restored, but it appears that God didn’t tell him why he had experienced all this. Those who read the story see the reason because it is spelled out in the first two chapters. If I had been Job, I’m not sure I would want to know. In a case like his, I would have very little to do with what was happening to me — and only be along for the ride. 

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