Back in the day, when life was hard but not complicated, there was this guy Job, a stand-up dude, honorable in all his ways. The LORD God liked Job a lot, and it showed.
Once when the LORD God was holding one of his monthly board meetings, Satan the Accuser showed up late. The LORD God said to Satan, “Hey Satan, where you been, man?” What you been up to?”. “Satan said, “I been hangin’ out on your earth, checkin’ out your people”.
The LORD God said “Uh huh. You checked out Job? Ain’t nobody like him, all righteous and stuff. Job’s my man!”
To which Satan replied “Yeah, right. That guy’s only in it for what he can get. You quit given’ him all that free stuff, he’ll dump you in a New York minute”.
So the LORD God said “Go ahead, take his stuff. We’ll see”. So Satan took Job’s stuff; family, livestock, all of it. Which accomplished nothing; our boy Job didn’t flinch nor falter. All Job said was, “Hey man, God gave it; God took it back! God be blessed!”.
Next month, at The LORD God’s board meeting, when Satan came in acting some kinda way, The LORD God said, “What’s goin’ on with you? Where you been?”
Satan said “Job…” but The LORD God cut him off right there and said “Now see, I told you”. To which Satan replied “No, no man. You still guarding him. You let me touch him. I’m tellin’ you, you let me touch him…” but The LORD God cut Satan off again and said “Go ‘head, touch him, but don’t you kill him. You hear?”
So Satan did indeed touch Job. He touched Job so hard Job’s wife hardly knew him; she lit him up-“Where’s your God at now, fool?”. When Job’s friends came, they lit him up worse.
But don’t you know Job stood fast, and when the dust had cleared, when the Accuser had no accusations left to make and Job’s friends were exposed for the charlatans they were, Job was fully restored. The LORD God’s faith in His children was vindicated, the Accuser’s lie was exposed-we are indeed capable of loving The LORD God for who He is apart from what He gives. Understanding The LORD God-well now, that’s another story. For now, love is more than enough.
