Job 1:8

"And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one the feareth God, and escheweth evil?"

So much is found here it is impossible to cover it all. The conversation between the Lord and Satan; the witness and testimony of Job before all the spiritual world; Job's characteristic that God applauds; and the pattern for all of us to keep. Too often many readers of the Holy Scriptures read as if they are reading a fanatsy. It is not relevant to them, they only read it for the facts of the pages. But a true saint is ready to find hope, exhortation and something from God to lead. This one verse has it all. And the Lord said unto Satan - what a conversation to be recorded for our benefit; The Lord God Almighty talking to Satan, who had betrayed and chosen to rebel against God. Satan was in His Holy Presence, only as a servant, no longer to sing and give glory to His Name. And in this conversation God ask of Satan a question. How many questions God imposes in the Bible, already knowing the answer. When God speaks the servant will answer. Hast thou considered my servant Job - the art of considering of people, events and life in general; I believe it to be a lost art, where we have forgotten what it is to discern and consider. The Lord tells SAtan to look upon His servant, Satan was His servant as well. 'Look at him, this is what I desire. You meant to destroy it and ruin it, but look and consider his heart toward me.' 'You can't break him, Satan', so says the Lord. And what of you, my beloved, do you desire for the Lord to bring you before the spiritaul world and say, 'Consider my sevant'. Oh, that God would put His faith within us and we would be worthy to give glory to Him, as Job did. But God will not say, "Consider my servant", until we have considered our own ways. That there is none like him in the earth - what a statement to be made of a man; Of all created man, and life on the earth during those days, Job was above all of them. Every feature and quality in him was above the rest. IN just about anything you do, there is usually someone that is better, faster, smarter, gifted above you. But to be the one considered out of all the earth to be a statement against Satan, how unworthy do we feel? We look upon our sin and shame and know that we would quickly be removed from this list to consider. OH, many a saint desires to do better, they know they should do better, but they never do do better. WE are to strive to be above the world and unlike all the rest in our purusit of holiness. So that our family, friends, co workers and church family should say of us,'There is none like them in all the earth'. And not just one, but a group of them that are seeking this same thing, then you have a holy body and it is marvellous what the Lord can and will do. A perfect and an upright man - word study, perfect; oh, how grand the statment found throughout the Bible of those that were perfect and upright in all their ways. It should be the desire of every Christian for such a statement. Yet, too many renounce and dismiss such a statment as if these people were above all the rest and not to be attained in this life for us. And thus, they have given themselves an excuse to sin and come short of His glory. But every time that word perfect is used in the Bible it is to show us that God can bless aperson to obtain and walk in uprightness in their thought, words, actions and priorities of life. It should not be shunned by the church but it should be embraced and set before us as our goal of worship and life. The way of perfection is a part of the cause of such evil that we see today. We continue to settle for less and less of holiness and perfection until we are jsut about to the place of 'and every man did that which was right in his own eyes'. There is a higher standard, perfecction, and we are to strive to be like Job in this. Consider your ways and see of your own hearts desire to be perfect 'like our Father which is in heaven is perfect'. One that feareth God - the beginning of wisdom is to fear the Lord; Can we say that this society walks in fear of the Lord? They defy Him and there is no fear of the One that holds their breath in His hand. And when a society begins to crumble it is because they have removed fear from judgment and wrath for their sins, no remorse, nor sorrow. Yet we could easily expect it in the world of lost sinners, but what about the church? what about your own heart? Do they fear the Lord? Is the dread of all the ages taht God is going to judge this world and all of us make us fearful of His anger? Do we weep and cry for the sins of this land and our families? Does the church understand what it is to fear the Lord? He Who created all things, is able to uncreate as well. Let us understand that God's mercy and His Own ways keep Him from destroying all this earth for their filth and offense toward Him. We need to learn what it is to fear the Lord again. Job did and so do we. And escheweth evil? - great questions of the Bible; Here again is God asking a question that the answer is already given. HE is making a statement concerning Job and the work of Satan. Here is Job, my servant, who is avoiding by intention every work of evil. Is this not perfection? To avoid intentionally the work of evil from one's life? And the reason you avoid evil is because of what it has costs us, what it will costs us and what it is costing our world today. We avoid evil because it takes us away from the ways fo the Lord and His grace and mercy. It takes us closer to the devil and he is able to mar and wound us. All of these things mentioned of Job work together to perfect his life and way of service to the Lord. These are the things that shoudl be said of us, are they? ARe they said of the church?