There Was a Day… Some Call It New Year’s Day!
Job 1:6-7 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.”
Anytime Satan is at the party, WE LOOSE!
He approaches in innocence (just roaming and walking).
Job 1:8 The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.”
Proudly God (the bragging rights of Daddy) points out the character of His child (His DNA), shining so brightly that none seeing him could miss who he belongs to.
Satan, who has heard so many of these “My Child” stories, mumbles from his evil heart… “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. (Job 1:9-10)… not DNA – SPOILED BRAT more likely!
Such a negative opinion!
And it/he hasn’t changed! The accuser of the brethren (night and day – Revelations 12:10), because he knows he is on his last hurrah, he is even more hell-bent on destroying the creation God loves. Today he stands before God’s throne saying the same things about us that he said about Job.
In our hung over state of celebrating THE END of the year or anything begging to be TWEAKED, we begin to imagine something even better – a PERFECT year, or person, or feeling, or world. If only…
We begin to hear and consider a view of truth that is separated from God. We begin to hear the accusations spoken before the throne of heaven by our expert accuser and we begin to repeat them to ourselves and others. Instead of reminding the accuser that his time is short, we panic and allow his opinion of us to DECLARE our guilt and enter his SLAVERY – Egypt style.
Exodus 1:9 Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we.
Exodus 1:10 Come, let us deal wisely with them, (or else)…
Exodus 1:11 So they appointed taskmasters (FYI these were fellow Hebrews) over them to afflict them with hard labor.
This, my beloved bros and sisters, is reenacted every New Year’s Day with each and every New Year’s Resolution! We VOW to become (in the NEW YEAR) everything we are not now. WE BECOME the taskmasters of ourselves and others in the family of God.
It’s all in the Art of Temptation… Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8) Make “them” think they “Better Watch Out”…
Court is in session and the Judge is ready to bang the gavel!
He KNOWS (sleeping, awake) – He KNOWS!
So… BE GOOD FOR GOODNESS SAKE!!!!
Every year, my enemy offers me the apple of taking the law into my own hands to avoid THE Judge who will surely make me SUFFER a life sentence of HARD SLAVE LABOR. Every New Year, I start to fall into temptation and every New Year, (I know I will) sooner rather than later, I will FAIL at being the perfect defendant with no need for mercy and grace.
And EVERY year (New or otherwise), God saves me and leads me out of the Egypt I keep trying to return to.
Yep, Satan is still the accuser and is still accusing the brethren before the throne night and day… his end is coming but only God determines the date and time (Mark 13:32).
Yep, it’s still and imperfect and groaning world! Until we are finally “revealed” as God’s sons and daughters, we look like (and sometimes act like) useful slaves who manage, like taskmasters of old, the hard labor of ourselves and others.
But God… is with us! Yes, He is the Judge but He is also the One who LOVES us and CLAIMS us as His own!
When the accuser steps to the podium… Jesus RISES (He sits at the right hand of God) and DECLARES us FREE! Because of His victory over all that stands between God and us, God ORDERS Satan to shut his mouth and get the hell out of heaven (he falls like lightning – Jesus watches – Luke 10:18).
What should we do (New Year’s or ANY other day) in return?
Observe and Remember!
Observe that God is NOT in agreement with the accuser… he was not asking Satan for a tattle-tale report of Job’s lifestyle. In fact He was bragging about and in love with His boy! Observe that God is NOT worried that He will be embarrassed by His creature/creation’s failure to be PERFECT. Observe that God is in control and Satan will not be allowed to devour and/or destroy.
Observe that in the end it is NOT about Job (or me – or you)… but about God and His life in us (God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life – Genesis 2:7).
And then… REMEMBER… it was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)
In MEMORY of all that you have observed and been blessed with… become His child – who races to Him rather than back to Egypt… become His child – who seeks Him rather than a child’s childish way… become His child – who does not fall for the temptation but turns to ABBA for every need… Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way. Who better than the One who knows every cell, every fearful and wonderful thing about you (Psalm 139)?
This year, instead of New Year’s resolution, I will be lifting my New Year’s Life resolution Banner… for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13).
I am a Child of God!
No more listening to or giving attention to the whispers of a future has-been accuser – I declare the Word of My Father… “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” says the Lord of hosts. (Zechariah 4:6)
There Was a Day…
This IS THE day… which the Lord has made;
After all… EVERY DAY… Father Knows Best!
Let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24)
Happy New Year!!!
**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.