Page 31 - Reading Job to Know God

Broken health does not mean broken spirit. Do not confuse a suffering
Christian with a broken Christian, because it is not the same thing. Many
Christians suffer, but they are not broken in their heart of hearts. As a
matter of fact, those two things might be millions of miles apart. A person
is never broken by losses or crosses. A person is never broken by adverse
circumstances. Never is! He is broken by seeing God. The word broken
we are using here is actually weak in that you might miss its true
meaning. The breaking of our soul and flesh brings us to “losing
confidence in the flesh” and prepares us to see God when He appears. It is
really a dying to the illusion of this reality, so that you can seek and cling
to the Kingdom of God. We must forsake our adulterous relationship with
this world and our addiction to control our environment. Christians quote
the Bible and pray not knowing that they are using spiritual things to
manipulate God and nature. God crushes you so that you will look to
Him! Then, looking to Him, you die to this world and become alive in
Him. Until you look to the Lord, you will never be broken in spirit and
contrite in heart.

So the cherubim look at God, and the Bible says they veil their eyes. So
Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, and then he said: “Woe is me! I
am undone. I am a man of unclean lips.” So Daniel looked at God and
said: “My comeliness is turned to dust.” So Peter looked at God and said:
“Depart from me, O, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” So John looked at
God and fell on his face as a dead man. So Job looked at God and said:
“I have seen Thee with the seeing of the eye; now I repent in
dust and ashes.” First John 3:2 says, “When we see Him, we will be
like Him.” That has a present truth as well as a future.
What is God’s partial answer to the mysteries of life? It can be
summarized in these questions. Why do the godly suffer? Why are there
mysteries in life? Why do circumstances go against me? The first two
chapters give the answer in a single word. Satan. That is the partial
answer. Why do these things happen in your life? Because there is a real
devil. Because there is a real Satan who hates your guts. He hates the Lord
Jesus Christ, and he hates the Lord’s beloved. We would have the shock
of our lives if we could ever get even a passing glance of how much Satan
hates us.

Job, chapters 1 and 2 give more about Satan than any other place in the
Bible. Therefore, since it is the full mention of Satan in the Old
Testament, we are going to study Satan in a Christ-centered way. Now do
not study Satan in a Satan-centered way. That is what people are doing
today. They take their eyes off the Lord. Everything the Bible says about
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