“Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9).
We return now to our study of Job by examining another of Satan’s schemes to induce Job to curse God. Satan spared Job’s wife so that she might mock her husband and tempt him to turn from God. Look at what she says: “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” What a scathing rebuke from one who was supposed to be a help mate and a support. Instead of encouraging Job to hold on to his religion, to bless God and live, she tells him to renounce his religion, “ ‘live no longer in dependence upon God, wait not for relief from Him, but be your own deliverer by being your own executioner,” ’ Henry paraphrased, ‘ “end your troubles by ending your life; better die once than be always dying thus.’ ” These are two of the worst temptations of Satan. To blaspheme God goes against our conscience, and to kill ourselves goes against our nature. We can be assured when these temptations assault us, they are an attack by Satan himself.
Job responds to the temptation with righteous indignation. “What! Curse God? I abhor the thought of it.” You can almost hear him saying, “Get behind me Satan!” Job reproves his wife, calling her words foolish. He then instructs her in the ways of righteousness: “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” “The consideration of the mercies we receive from God, both past and present, should make us receive our afflictions with a suitable disposition of spirit,” Henry wrote. “If we receive our share of the common good in the seven years of plenty, shall we not receive our share of the common evil in the years of famine? If we have so much that pleases us, why should we not be content with that which pleases God? If we receive so many comforts, shall we not receive some afflictions, which will serve as foils to our comforts, to make them the more valuable (we are taught the worth of mercies by being made to want them sometimes).… If we receive so much good for the body, shall we not receive some good for the soul; that is some afflictions, by which we partake of God’s holiness (Heb. 12:10), something which, by saddening the countenance, makes the heart better? Let murmuring therefore, as well as boasting, be forever excluded.”
Job recognized God’s sovereignty over all areas of his life. Do you recognize and submit to God’s authority in both the good times and the bad? Consider your life. Do you hold any bitter thoughts against God for past or present suffering and trials? If so, confess them to God today and praise Him for all things.
