“Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” Job 1:9-11
Dear Heavenly Father, as far as “creature comforts” go, I don’t have anything whine-worthy going on in my life right now. I’ve got good health… there’s always more check left over at the end of the month… none of my family members are in crisis. Right now, nothing beyond the normal fallen-ness and brokenness of life is happening, around me or within me.
I presume on none of these things, Father. I take none of them for granted. By your grace alone, I don’t battle with entitlement issues as much as I used to, and I really do believe that everything I have, I’ve received from you. (1 Corinthians 4:7)
So when I engage Job’s story, during this particular season of Lent, I’m not doing so with a troubled heart, teary eyes, gritted teeth or clinched fists. But the question does remain-Satan’s insolent insinuation persists… Why do I love you? What’s my motivation for worshipping you? How will I think about you the next time I do experience significant loss, betrayal and pain? For surely I will before Jesus returns to finish making all things new…
Father, I sometimes wonder if Satan watches a lot of American religious TV programming, because much of it surely provides fuel for his folly-much of it seems to substantiate his charge that the only reason we love you is because of the goodies you give us. How many ways are there to repackage pragmatic, utilitarian, man-centered corruptions of the gospel?
Father, I so want to be a man who loves and worships you simply because you are God. I For there is no other god besides you, and there is certainly no other god like you. I humbly thank you for your gifts, but I want to love and worship you, the Giver, as the supreme gift.
Continue to enthrall me with the gospel and install in my heart the joy of being able to say with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego… “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Daniel 2:17-18). So very Amen, I pray, in Jesus’ holy and loving name.