“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” (James 1:27)
The flesh, the world and Satan, your three enemies, in one form or another, not one of them is going to give you a moments break. The world offers, the flesh desires, and Satan is willing to entice even the man who has committed his life to the glory of God, especially that man.
Mankind is really no challenge to our adversary, this fallen cherubim has withstood the mightiest of the Living God’s angels, so do not deceive yourself here, you have no power over him, we can resist him, but even if he flees, he will return. Your free will my friends is what determines not only the amount of the attacks he decides to inflict upon you, but the ferocity of them.
“And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?” (Job 1:8)
Yes, he had, many times, but he could not get through the hedge that the Almighty had placed around him. It took the Lord to lower that hedge before he could advance upon him, before he could make his attack, and the first thing he did was forcefully remove the things of the world from righteous Job.
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2)
And Job was not conformed, yet there was suffering, there was loss, there were tears. But Job knew how to accept the will of God, he knew how to let go.
Time does not heal all wounds my friends, the Almighty does.
Everything removed, scattered debris of the items of the world, graves instead of children, a despairing wife instead of one filled with joy. With the world gone, there was only one thing left.
“And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.” (Job 2:4)
Pain upon pain, the mind assailed on both fronts.
I may be mistaken here, for my memory is poor to say the least, but I do not recall Job or any of those that sat with him once mentioning our adversary, not once was the question broached as to why Satan had noticed Job. It was the actions of the Almighty that Job questioned.
“I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.” (Job 23:4)
This third enemy of ours is never the cause of our trials and tribulations, Satan is never the reason for that which assails us, he is the tool the Almighty uses.
“And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:” (Luke 22:31)
All who have been chosen by the Almighty are under His wings, and Satan can no more go there than he could broach that hedge around Job. He must ask permission to come against us, and sometimes my brothers and sisters in Christ, he is allowed to sift us. Here is where the free will of man, your free will, and the Sovereignty of the Living God coincide, here is where we realize where our strength lays, in our determination, or in the grace and mercy of the Most High.
Every time the world calls, you have a choice, every time your flesh attempts to draw you into its sinful desires, you have a choice, every time Satan tempts us, attempts to coerce and deceive us, attack us, you have a choice.
You would not need to give an account on that day if this were not true.
At the bottom of the page of every attack of Satan upon us is the authorized signature of your Father in heaven, if you can remember that, you can accept all from His hands.
“But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.” (Job 2:10)
The Sovereignty of the Living God in our lives allows us, by our own free will, to make choices in this life. The choice is always yours, you can blame no one else but yourself, but make sure your praise always goes to God, not in your ability to stand.
