Often when believers talk about the goodness and mercy of God, people will say "what about Job?" Many of us have the same struggle in our thoughts. It's like fighting to stay stuck in the mud, but Jesus freed us from that. He had to die and be resurrected in order to be raised above all things and rulers on the earth. In Genesis, we see Adam and Eve given dominion over the earth by God, but they lost that and gave it to Satan when they sinned and disobeyed God. This spread to all mankind. Therefore, all the earth is under darkness and the authority of Satan. Before we came to Jesus, we too were under the dominion and obeyed the devil - there is no middle ground. You either obey Jesus or the devil. Often, people question why God was so harsh in the Old Testament and loving and merciful in the New Testament. God doesn't change! He is the same! He was not against the people, but against their sin, which He had to punish as a righteous God because sin is destructive. Jesus was the only answer there could be to redeem mankind, but God had to wait a long time for men to do what was needed. Jesus paid the price for us with His blood, but for Job, the sacrifice had not yet taken place. He was still in Satan's hands because Satan had dominion over the earth. Job loved God and stayed away from evil, so his soul was safe, but his body and earthly life were subject to the authority of the devil that Adam had given away in the garden. God made man in His image and Jesus is an exact representation of God, so when the devil led Jesus into the desert to tempt Him, it was like Adam. The difference is that Adam gave into the temptation and Jesus did not, so He overcame the authority Satan had over the earth because He was born to a virgin and was sinless. He broke the chains and regained the authority Adam had lost. So - what about Job? We are in a different place than he was because we have access through the death and resurrection of Jesus that has set us free!

Amen!

Reference verses: Ephesians 1:19-23; Genesis 1:26; Romans 5:12; Colossians 1:13-14; Ephesians 2:1-6; Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8; Romans 8:2; Galatians 3:13-15; James 5:9-11; Job 1:6-12; Hebrews 1:3; Matthew 4:2-11