“And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.” (Job 2:3)
It is commonly taught in some circles that Job “opened the door” to tragedy and trial through fear. They use Job 3:25 to hang their theory on: “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.” So the moral of the story is this: don’t give place to a spirit of fear and don’t believe that any bad thing could possibly happen to you, because if you do, it will happen. You get what you think and what you say, whether good or bad.
Such is the take of those who believe that God has given us unlimited authority over the earth and all that happens in it so that we can “take dominion” over rain and wind, coughs and colds, and any other thing we place in the category of “bad.” By this logic, the only thing that stops this earth from presently being under our feet and completely controlled by us is our failure to understand the authority that we have been given and the lack of nerve to exercise it. If there is “bad” happening anywhere it is unnecessary and the fault lies with us for for letting it happen.
Job is deemed an early example of this failure. Supposedly, God is setting him forth as an example of what not to do. But is that the point of the story or is that simply spun from those who have their own agenda to push? Was Job’s fear the cause of his calamities? Well according to the verse below the Lord tells Satan: “… thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.” God tells Satan that He has not been moved “against” Job because of some “cause” (i.e., fear or unbelief) in his life. The record is clear: no failure on the part of Job “opened the door” to his trial.
God had His reasons for allowing this trial but the cause was not some failure on Job’s part to “walk in faith” or maintain a positive confession. Such an interpretation is a bad case of revisionist history and scripture twisting to fit a doctrinal position.
There is so much to learn from the Book of Job. Perhaps, if we jettisoned our bad doctrine, we would be able to be nourished up in the good doctrine that is there. We would gain from that which was “written for our learning,” patience, comfort and hope. (Rom. 15:4)
Many a Job is still being blamed for the trials they are in. Superstition never comforted anyone. Error never set anyone free.