afflict Job. In the first chapter, the eleventh verse he says, "Put forth thine hand
now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face"; and in the
second chapter and the fifth verse, "Put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and
his flesh, and he will curse thee to they face". Satan knew that none but God could
touch Job; and when Satan was permitted to afflict him, Job was quite right in recognizing
the Lord Himself as the doer of those things which He permitted to be done.
Oftentimes shall we be helped and blessed if we bear this in mind -
that Satan is servant, and not master, and that he, and wicked men incited by him, are
permitted only to do that which God by His determinate counsel and free knowledge has
before determined shall be done. Come joy, or come sorrow, we may always take it from the
hand of God.
Judas betrayed his Master with a kiss. Our Lord did not stop short at
Judas, nor did He even stop at the great enemy who filled Judas’ heart to do this
thing; but He said, "The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink
it?" How the tendency to resentment and a wrong feeling would be removed, could we
take an injury from the hand of a loving Father, instead of looking chiefly at the agent
through whom it comes to us! It matters not who is the postman - it is with the writer of
the letter that we are concerned. It matters not who is the messenger - it is with God
that His children have to do.
We conclude, therefore, that Job was not mistaken, and that we shall
not be mistaken if we follow his example in accepting all God’s providential dealings
as from Himself, and are sure that they will issue in ultimate blessing, because God is
God, and therefore, "all things work together for good to them that love God"
(Rom. 8:28).