Job in his dilemma of physical suffering describes his experience as the ‘days of my struggle’ (Job 14:14). He recognizes the fierce battle he is in and during all of the affliction he has hope as he also waits ‘Until my change come’ knowing that he too will be changed as a children of God will when the Lord returns to this earth, rapturing those alive and resurrecting those in the grave as ‘the dead in Christ will rise first’ and we which are alive and remain will be caught up together with Him!
We all are like Job, in a great struggle against the forces of darkness, Satan and his demonic emissaries, as they are waging the war against the righteous, the children of God! Some of us can suffer for the Lord’s sake in many different ways as we witness to others of His great grace in the salvation from sin, death and hell that we enjoy. This is our daily duty, to let those, who are still chained in sin, know the truth of the liberating power of the Gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ is able to set free those who are captive in the prisonhouses of addiction, the chains of alcohol, the captivating fortresses of the soul that bring those who know not Christ into physical and spiritual bondage.
Just the other afternoon the Lord led a young man into my path whose life was controlled by the Satanic power of alcohol. Any mind-altering substance can be utilized by the Prince of Darkness to bring a soul into his control. Whether it be the so-called legal drugs of alcohol, nicotine, caffeine or the illegal drugs marijuana, cocaine, heroine, etc., Satan can be in the midst of them all bringing the soul into captivity, where he has the capability of influencing men to do his will.
This fellow opened his heart to me as I witnessed to him of the Lord’s ability to free him from this heinous habit. He listened intently as the Lord gave me liberty to rehearse many of the things the Lord has done for me. I told him how, he delivered me from the life-controlling alcohol addiction in one moment of time when He saved me from my sins over two decades ago! And, He has kept me by His power from returning to the life of bondage that I experienced for over fifteen years before He gave me new life when I was born again.
But, the only way this liberty continues, is through the power of the Holy Spirit, Who is fed by surrendering to His working and will, seeking instead to do the will of God revealed through His Word. The Word of God does the work of God one old preacher rightly told me years ago, and it is one of the most powerful truths I have learned through these years of walking with the Lord.. Yes, the Lord gets all the glory as He has given me a supernatural hunger for His Word, memorizing and meditating on the Living Lord Jesus Christ is in essence what is accomplished as we focus our minds and hearts on His precious Word!
And so, the struggle that Job experienced with physical suffering as he was tested by the Lord, is similar to the struggle we, the children of God, face throughout the days of our lives as we walk with the Lord. But, unless we surrender to His will and utilize the power of the Holy Spirit through the intake of the Word of God, we too can fall into the influence of Satan, and we will not be all we can for the Lord Jesus Christ!