Gods Sabbath

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E NTERING INTO G OD ’ S S ABBATH R EST

sometimes the outworking of our own mistakes, and sometimes not. But even in our most difficult moments, God does not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to bear, as long as we trust in Him (see 1 Corinthians 10:13). So although we might not be able to understand some of God’s ways, we can by faith trust that they are righteous for the simple reason that God Himself is the epitome of righteousness and can operate in no other way. We can therefore accept that God’s permitting Satan to afflict Job was entirely righteous and faultless. As God’s chil dren, we believe this by faith, no matter what arguments may be presented to the contrary, nor how convincingly every ap pearance may declare otherwise. The only alternative is to re ject God as a liar and cast ourselves on Satan’s side. There is never any unrighteousness with God, nor resorting to unjust means simply because the end appears to justify them. What God and Job did in partnership was but the outworking of a righteous principle—the law of self-sacrificing, self-denying, and self-abnegating love. This is the law of life for both heaven and earth. When God permitted Satan to touch Job, He was sim ply accepting the faithful patriarch’s consecration to serve his Maker at any cost, in order to help finish the great controversy. God was much too loving to refuse Job this service and the re sultant blessing. Satan was determined to destroy Job’s Sabbath rest. He at tempted to achieve this by convincing Job that his troubles were the direct result of his own sinfulness—rather than because Sa tan was afflicting him. Acting through his agents, who were recognized authorities in religious matters, Satan worked to im press upon the patriarch the conviction that a wrathful God was afflicting him because of some great personal wickedness. Their arguments were based on the oversimplified logic that, as sin causes sickness and sickness brings death, then wherever there is suffering there must be sin, whether it is visible or not. As Job was severely afflicted, they reasoned that his sin must be ex ceedingly great. Job’s “Comforters”