I have talked to several
people a lot this week about spiritual warfare. It’s caused me to take a step
back and get a wider picture of this suffering that Job endured. So today our
homework is over Job 27-37, but I’d like to zoom out a little bit and talk
about the difference between spiritual warfare and God’s discipline and why
it’s important to know the difference.
We know that the story of Job
is a story about intense spiritual warfare happening in the heavenly realms
between God and Satan. Sometimes we’re tempted to view Satan as God’s
evil-equal, but it’s important to note that’s not the case at all. Satan
definitely is evil, but he’s not at all equal to Almighty God. God is so much
greater, so much wiser, so much more powerful than Satan ever could hope to be.
Satan is a created being (created by God!) and he is pure evil. He roams the
earth seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). He comes to steal, kill and
destroy (John 10:10). He hopes to cause us so much suffering that we curse God
and die, as suggested by poor Mrs. Job. But he is definitely not as powerful as God, nor is he omnipresent like God (able to be present in more than one place at a time), or omniscient like God (knowing all things).
2 Corinthians 10:3-4 says:
“For though
we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the
weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy
strongholds."
We
got a glimpse into a part of this spiritual war that Paul tells the Corinthian
church about when we read about Satan’s conversation with God in the book of
Job so we can actually picture the negotiations between God and Satan. We know
that Satan asked permission from God to attack Job and that he only got to do
it because God allowed it to happen. This is a battle for Job’s faith, a battle
for Job’s life. Job was able to stand firm in the middle of it because his
faith in God was solid. And God, in his sovereignty, knew it would be.
Sometimes the suffering we are enduring is because of an attack from the enemy.
While there’s no debating that
Job’s attacks were grounded in a spiritual battle in the heavenly realms, there
is another form of suffering we sometimes face that is worth mentioning here. This
form of suffering is God’s discipline. We must be able to distinguish between a
spiritual battle being waged against us and the firm and gentle hand of
discipline of a loving Father.
Hebrews
12:5-11 says:
"My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of
the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by
him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises
every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is
treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not
discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have
participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides
this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them.
Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they
disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines
us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the
moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields
the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."
Sometimes
the suffering we are enduring is because God is disciplining us.
How
can we tell the difference?
The
first question to ask is “Am I submitting my whole life to the lordship of
Jesus Christ?” If you can genuinely answer with a “YES” (not a yes because you
go to church a lot or follow lots of rules, but because you are genuinely
walking in fellowship with the Lord), then it’s likely that you are
experiencing spiritual warfare. But if you answered “NO” to the above
questions, the suffering you’re experiencing could possibly be due to the
discipline and correction of the Lord. Often when a person comes to Christ, she
readily accepts Him as Savior but is hesitant to make him Lord. I remember my
mom putting it to me in terms an eight-year-old could understand – Jesus wanted
to be my boss. If Jesus is truly your boss and you are submitting every part of
your life to him, when bad things come your way you’ll be suited up in the
armor of God, able to take your stand against the schemes of the devil. But if
you’re struggling with the idea of making him your Lord, your boss, the
struggles you’re facing could very well be the hand of the Lord’s discipline on
you.
So
what do we do when we know that we’re being attacked?
Ephesians
6:10-20 says:
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his
might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand
against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against
the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this
present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore
take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil
day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and
having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness
given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which
you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take
the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and
supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making
supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my
mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which
I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to
speak.
If we want to have any hope of standing
firm against the schemes of Satan, we must have the full armor of God. We need
the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the readiness
of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the
sword of the spirit (which is God’s Word). When we are fully equipped and
prepared, we are able to stand firm when the flaming darts of Satan’s arrows
fly.
So why is it important to distinguish
between spiritual warfare and discipline? The answer is simple – We must stand
firm against Satan’s attacks but we must willingly submit to the Lord’s
discipline. If we submit when we should be standing or stand when we should be
submitting, we may miss the lesson God has for us or even worse, give the devil a foothold in our lives.
James 4:7 tells us, “Submit yourselves
therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee.” This submission requires
us to die daily to ourselves, meaning that we no longer just go around doing
whatever we feel like doing, whenever we feel like doing it. Total submission
to God means that every morning we wake up and we surrender our days to His guidance.
We walk through our days asking him to point us to the jobs he has for us and
obeying when he tells us what to do. It’s a radically different way to live
life because it requires a complete change in perspective from one that is
self-centered, to one that is completely unconcerned with self. When we submit
ourselves to God and then see trials come our way, we can easily be shaped into
the women that God wants us to be because we can recognize the hardships as God
molding and shaping us to look more and more like Jesus Christ.
John 15 compares us to branches growing
on the vine of the Father. Jesus tells us here that any branch that does not
bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. Learn to recognize
the pruning process in your life. (Now is a good time to remind you about Job’s
wife – remember her trials were due to the testing of her husband. God
certainly was at work in her life as well, pruning her, molding and shaping
her, even though the test of faith was specifically for Job. While we do know
that her first response to curse God and die was not a “submissive” response or
even a “stand firm against the devil” response, we have to wonder if old Mrs.
Job ever had a change of heart as she watched her husband resist the devil. Who
knows?)
We’ll need that full armor of God to be
able to resist the devil. A soldier doesn’t quickly throw on his armor when the
enemy arrives and expect to win. In order to effectively resist Satan’s
attacks, we must already be dressed! Interestingly enough, if we ever hope to
submit ourselves to God, the same amount of preparation is needed.
The preparation required to resist the
devil is the same as the preparation required to submit to God.
Both acts of preparation require us to
spend time in God’s Word and in prayer every single day, not just when the
trials come. How can you be ready to submit to God and his discipline? How can
you be ready to resist the devil when the attacks come? By spending time with
the God of the universe every day in prayer and in His Word. Submit to God.
Resist the devil and he will flee.
(Please also consider that sometimes we suffer due to medical problems - a condition that happens to every one of us because of the fall of man. Our bodies are our temporary homes, not meant to last forever. Sometimes our physical suffering has nothing to do with spiritual warfare or with the discipline of the Lord but from the very fact that this world is not our home.)
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