SCRIPTURE: Job 2
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.” But Job replied, “You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” So in all this, Job said nothing wrong. [Job 2:9-10]
Though it is his wife speaking, Satan is the spirit behind her words.
We should not blame her, its one thing to endure our own suffering, its another thing to helplessly see others suffer.
It reminds me of a book I read years ago called “Silence” (Shusako Endo) where a priest in Japan is compelled to renounce his faith not through his own torture, but the torture and murder of the villagers he converted.
Job’s wife has been through too much – she also lost her children – and she cannot take it anymore.
Her ‘folly’ is not that she is despairing of all that she is going through, but in thinking that cursing God and dying will make things better.
If this is bad, think about what cursing God and dying will be like…

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'” [Matthew 4:5-7]
Same devil, different test, same intention.
Satan will use any means he can to get us to despair and give up; here he uses the opposite tactic, one that he still uses today.
Get people to think that believing in God is a guarantee of protection and happiness.
We will not suffer harm because God commands His angels concerning us.
Do people believe this? They may not articulate it like this, but after something painful or terrible happens, listen how they question where God was?
How could God let this happen, as if it were up to Him to stop all bad things from happening – to protect us from falling.

Jesus’ answer is different from Job’s, but both of them recognize that we are not bigger than God: we should not test God, nor should we make demands of God (only good things, never anything bad).
God is God and we are not; even when things go terribly wrong, we are foolish to think we could handle it better than God.
God is God and we are not; we should not push God to do what we want, to use Him for our own benefit or comfort.
It bears repeating, Satan does not care how he gets us to defy or despair of God, he will do whatever he can to get us to turn from God.
Satan is indeed patrolling the earth, watching everything that’s going on [Job 2:2]; for this reason we need to be on guard.
Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. [1 Peter 5:8-9]

I can relate to the ‘folly’ of Job’s wife; I have a hard time imagining that I could respond like Job.
But at the end of the day, no matter how terrible things in this world become, is it really better to curse God and die?
Or is that exactly what Satan wants… and will that only make things worse?

PRAYER:
Lord, how can I judge those who have endured worse than me, and questioned, doubted or even cursed you. You are merciful, even to those who doubt, and Satan is a jerk. Please help those who are going through terrible situations, give them what they need to stand firms and stay strong!