Though He Slay Me

Scripture Reading: Job 13:15

It seems this is the moment the original question was settled. If you recall, the book of Job begins with Satan showing up before God and pursues an accusation against Job. It first comes in the form of a question: “Does Job fear God for no reason?” (Job 1:9) Satan claims that the only reason Job fears God is because God had protected and prospered him. If all that was taken away, then Job would curse God.

As we know, Job’s life descended into a virtual hell on earth. He lost his wealth, his children, and finally his health. Job’s wife chided him and tempted him to do the very thing Satan had predicted and hoped he would do. “Curse God and die!” was her harsh advice. His friends were convinced his suffering was a direct consequence of some hidden sin in Job’s life. He was getting his just deserts.

What does Job do? How would he respond? He began well: “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). It is one thing to respond well the day when disaster strikes, it is another to go through a long, dark night of the soul and not give up.

Here we have it. Job’s statement of faith. Though he was dying the death of a thousand cuts, though the heavens were silent as the reason for it all, though no light was appearing across the horizon to brighten the darkness “yet I will trust him.”

What can Satan say to a faith like that? I suspect this is why he disappears from the story after the first pages. He has been defeated by faith. Faith was and is the victory that overcomes the world.