When Satan tempts me to despair
Everything that the Father gives me will come to me,
And anyone who comes to me I will never drive away. John 6:37
Read Job 1:6—12
Job lived in the land of Uz once upon a time.[1] The story starts in a faraway country at a faraway time, and immediately I’m translated to a far-above place, among heavenly beings presenting themselves to the Lord. So I’m inclined to let my imagination run. Here’s what I imagine. I imagine satan is talking to the Lord, and the subject is me. He’s looking for the connection I have with the Lord, why it is that I would give the Lord my allegiance and devotion. He’s wanting to prise me apart from all this, from the Lord, from my image of myself as one of God’s faithful. He’s testing my motive. If he can only get me to think how false it all is, how dishonest my devotion is, if he can only get me to face my hypocrisy — no less! — he may think I’ll want to be done with the pretence. He’s convinced plenty before me to be honest with themselves and an army of blatant pagans has resulted, a teeming cohort of the frankly secular.
Dear Father, of course I am a hypocrite. I do not need the satan to tell me that. My Lord Jesus has made that abundantly clear to me. Of course I have been false to you. Of course I have denied you. In that respect I have not left Peter on his own. Of course, if I trusted in my own spirituality, my own devotion, my own uprightness, these things themselves would be all my own work, and they would prise me away from relying upon you. My religion would fail me. All this I learn from my Lord Jesus. I did not choose him. He chose me.[2] The Father has entrusted me to the Son. And, when I survey those I know who have turned away from you, and what they think they have gained by doing it, I say with Peter, ‘Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.’[3]
[1] Job 1:1
[2] John 15:16
[3] John 6:68