Consider Job

"Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land  But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”(Job 1:8-11)."

In Isaiah 14:14, Satan, the devil, said, "I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” In other words, Satan wants to be like God. However, what is Satan's perception of what it means to be like God? According to Job 1:8-11, he believes that God is one who provides people with protection and possessions. So, if you were to ask Satan, "What does it mean to be like God?" he may reply that it means, "God is one who protects His people and provides them with possessions." We must ask ourselves, "Is that how we see God?" Do we think God is there primarily to provide us with protection and possessions, among other things? If we are honest, most people would say, "Yes." Think about it for a moment; we have entire ministries under the banner of Christianity that promote this idea. There are entire networks dedicated to the idea that God wants you to prosper in every area of your life. I know I have heard countless times about God's "hedge of protection" or His "covering" around us. Now, don't get me wrong, God has protected and provided for His people, but there are those that act as though this is His sole purpose in their lives. I also believe this is has also given Satan an opportunity to step in and deceive people as well. There are countless ministries out there who teach a different gospel. They have been given names like the "Prosperity" gospel or the "Name it and Claim it" crowd. The followers are constantly "testifying" about how God "protected" them or "provided" for them in some way or another as a means to support false teaching. However, I question if these testimonies are legitimate for one, because many are not. But, for those that are legitimate I wonder if it was truly God behind it all. I say this because I am not convinced God would perform a miracle, if you will, if it is used to support bad teaching that is undermining His truth. But, don't forget that Satan, the unholy spirit, has power as well. It may be him behind some of these events that people attribute to God because Satan mistakenly believes doing these things is what it means to be like God.

Now, I say all of that to say this; if a person feels God is primarily in their life to protect and provide for them, what would they do if all of it was removed? Satan, in Job 1:11 provokes God by effectively saying that if you took everything from Job he would curse You to your face. This could be true to some degree since Job was not indwelt by the Holy Spirit like born again Christians are today. However, Christians always talk about our faith in God as a "relationship with Jesus." Yet, what would it say about that relationship if the physical blessings of the flesh we felt God blessed us with were suddenly taken away? How would we feel if somebody was in our life simply because of the things we provided for them? We might feel a bit used; perhaps even violated or lied to. How do you think God would feel if the limit of our so-called relationship with Him was to the extent He was blessing us with protection and physical possessions? Could Satan go before God and make the same accusations about us that he did regarding Job? Do we only fear God and worship Him because we feel He has a "hedge of protection" around us and has "blessed the works" of our hands? Many Christians today probably don't feel protected or provided for at all when it comes to God because of the terrible circumstances of their lives. Yet, many of those same Christians exude a faith worthy of Hebrews 11. I say this because they know God intimately and personally; they have a relationship with Him which is not conditional on the level of His protection or provision. I do not want anyone to have to go through anything like Job experienced, but I do want everybody to consider what is the foundation of their relationship with Jesus Christ.  Do we truly believe God "has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3)" or do we only seek after the physical blessings of the flesh that are not promised?