Materialist Satan

The book of Job starts with a scene of God and Satan, who argue about how Gods followers are so not because of material things, and to prove this God allows Satan to remove all of Jobs wealth from him and he shall endure in his faith. Satan smites his sons and damages his wealth, and the evil one removes any material advantage Job has and leaves him alone to the suffering of his problems. Job doesn’t understand, but “In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly (Job, chapter 3).” He only explains the facts by arguing that God gave it all to him and that it was his right to take it from him, and it was not unfair or evil on his part. On the other hand his wife insults God and calls him unfair and evil, to what Job disagrees with completely, probably influenced by his fear of God.

Then three of his friends decide to visit him and mourn for all his loss and unhappiness. They believe that either God is an unfair figure, or that Job has done something of great evil they know not of and he deserves the punishment he is receiving, if not a worse one. Soon a reflection emerges in the text, one many people probably have previously considered in times of struggle: “The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: he covereth the faces of the judges thereof; if not, where, and who is he? Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good (Job, chapter 9).” Many people often think about how God is absent in their minds, and they misinterpret his position of God to make him guilty of any sort of problem that occurs in their lives. HE is not responsible for everything that happens and we have no right to charge him with the fault of our mistakes because what we get is what we look for, things don’t happen to us due to a random desire of God.

Job is alone and poor and all he has left to rely on is his spiritual strength and trust in God. Even though all this miseries happen to him he does not linger from the path of the LORD, proving what God has foreseen a good follower would do. This is a hit on Satan because he is proved wrong, and he realizes how big faith can be and how weak his power over humans really is. At the end Job makes one claim but not directly to God, instead he openly asks for a break to whatever is tha cause of his troubles. “Are not my days few? Cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little, Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death (Job, chapter 10).” He is weak and will no longer take the hardships of life, all he wants is to leave in peace the rest of his life, even if it means in the misery that envelops him. His last prayer is one that seeks peace and harmony with himself so that he may rest and live in tranquility the last days of his life. When people come to the end, they reflect on everything their lives meant not only to themselves and to others. We must always do that before we act, for if we want to live a peaceful life where we are able to find rest, we must seek for it before the time comes when we can no longer go at peace.