But stretch out Your hand now, and touch [Job's] bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face!
Job 2:5
Recommended Reading
Revelation 12:10
What is best known about Job is that Satan attacked the man, his children, and his livelihood. Job and his wife survived; everything else was gone. What is less well known is why Job was the target of Satan's attack. And therein lies the key to understanding spiritual warfare.
Job was a righteous man who "feared God and shunned evil" (Job 1:1). Satan targeted Job because he wanted to prove to God that righteous people will curse God when they are in difficulty. Satan wanted to get Job to change his attitude about God. He wanted Job to take his wife's advice and "curse God" (Job 2:9) because of what God allowed to happen. God had confidence in Job, however, and it was well founded. Job didn't curse God. Instead, he set out on a quest to understand what God was doing in his life. Satan's goal in spiritual warfare is not just to hurt us. His goal is to get us, because of our pain, to "curse God"—to stop believing in the goodness of God.
If you are hurting today, remember Job's story. Don't let your circumstances change your faith in God. Instead, resist the devil and submit to God's plan (James 4:7).
