Satan is a very busy figure in the Bible. In the New Testament, we see him using both Judas and Peter in different ways to discourage Jesus from the accomplishment of His mission on Earth. But, much earlier than this we see that God had allowed Satan to test Job’s faith thoroughly. He destroyed Job’s wealth, his family, and even his body. Satan had done his worst and Job held on to his trust in God through it all. But Satan wasn’t finished with Job. The worst was yet to come. We find Job’s health destroyed as well at the hands of Satan. At the end of chapter 2, we find Job covered in leprous boils, scraping himself with a piece of broken pottery while the dogs licked the sores on his legs. But Satan is still not finished. He will stop at nothing to get Job to curse God.

Just as Satan used Peter, Jesus’ closest friend, to discourage Jesus from carrying out His divine mission, Satan spoke evil words to Job through his suffering wife. The one companion who shared in his success and failure, who was there through all the ups and downs of his life, who suffered the loss of her children and had no reason left to continue living, points out Job’s miserable situation and in great despair tells Job to curse God and die! Some even suggest that her words to her husband in Job 1:9, “Curse God and die,” contain a suggestion that he commit suicide. One might even argue that it’s her suggestion that they go together. They lost everything they had labored for together over the years. Their children were gone and we would assume that the grandchildren were gone also. If there weren’t any, all prospects of having any were gone. No wonder she was in such despair.

But Satan is still not finished. Satan begins to work on Job’s thought life. Job begins to listen to himself. In chapter 3, after seven days of silence, Job lets us and his three friends know what he had been thinking. Satan had used the seven days of silence to plant more pain and suffering in Job’s head. Ephesians, Chapter 6, speaks of Satan’s attack as “flaming darts.” Paul often tells us that our thoughts can also be our enemies. Satan not only uses others to speak to us, he uses “ourselves.” Job had been listening to himself (or Satan speak to him through himself) and exploded with wishes he’d never been born. “The world would be better off without me.” “God is against me.” “My family and friends would be better off without me.” “I am a waste of space.” “The only difference between me and a bucket of slop is the bucket.” You could probably add your own thoughts to these. Like us, Job should be talking to himself instead of listening to himself, as the Psalmist did. “Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why so disquieted within me? Hope in God!” He is addressing himself. We often listen to ourselves when we should talk to ourselves. Satan plants negative little voices inside us, playing discouraging tapes in endless loops. We need to eject those tapes, take ourselves in hand, sit ourselves down, and give ourselves a talking to. As Jeremiah reminded the suffering slaves in Babylon, God has a wonderful plan for your future. Trust it!