Have You Considered My Servant Job?

I honestly think this might be the most bizarre thing in the bible.

6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 8 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” 9 Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. (Job 1:6-12)

Satan, roaming the earth looking for a man to destroy.
God offers up His most faithful servant.

We think our faithfulness will bring us comfort, safety, and riches.
In God's economy, it brings us . . . suffering.

How do we consider it all joy in our suffering? Because our suffering, though painful as it may be, glorifies God. More than our safety, our comfort, or even our bible knowledge.

Our suffering is momentary. God's love is eternal.

When we can praise God through the pain, He is glorified. When the world sees us hurting, it can lead them to hoping.

Hoping in a God that is bigger than our circumstance, our pain, our understanding.

If there is one thing I've learned through studying Job it's that I don't understand God and His ways.
And I like that.

16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)