Abram had asked God how he could be sure that God really had promised him many descendants. God certified His Word by passing between the pieces of the slain animals.

Yes, it is Jesus Christ who is the Firepot with a blazing torch. How different from the pictures of the Bible bookstore, but the same Lord Jesus.

Would you like to know Him in a deeper way? Tell Him about it right now. Why should you remain a lightweight in the Kingdom of God when so much more of Christ is available? True, we have to share His sufferings, as described in the twenty-second Psalm. But this is the path to the fullness of resurrection life, and to live eternally in such glorious life is well worth the brief suffering that is required.

Then there was Job.

The story of Job is that of a person who changed from being merely a righteous man to a man who knew God. Although Job was wonderfully restored with numerous blessings after his terrible experience, the greatest blessing was the knowledge of God.

Notice how God is blessed, the individual is blessed, and countless others are blessed, when God is successful in bringing an individual through the thick and dreadful darkness. How many believers who have been brought into intense suffering have been comforted by the story of Job!

If God at the present time is taking you through a season of darkness, read the Book of Job. It is such a comfort. The same is true also of the Book of Lamentations. Let these two books be your daily bread while you are walking through the night with God.

There are several lessons we can learn from Job.

Job was a righteous man doing everything possible to please God. It was a kind of self-righteousness, to be sure, but God regarded Job as being righteous—and that is all that counts!

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." (Job 1:8—NIV)

How many times are we told that if we will do what is right we will never have a problem?

But when God is preparing someone to be a tree of life, the rules of the game change.

Satan fell into the trap. God allowed Satan's evil nature to accomplish God's purpose in Job. This is always true when we are serving God.

You can read through the Book of Job and see that the struggle was between Job and God. Although Job's afflictions came from Satan, Job did not waste time "rebuking the devil." Job sought to discover why, when he was doing all he knew to do to please God, he was being destroyed.

When the Apostle Paul was afflicted by Satan he went to God. He did not attempt to rebuke the devil, as we do today.

The name Israel means "he struggles with God," not with the devil.

It is true that we are being opposed by the fallen lords in the heavens. Nevertheless, the New Testament does not advise us to go about rebuking the devil. It is the Lord Jesus who is our problem, not Satan. When a man's ways please the Lord He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. When we please Jesus, Jesus will take care of Satan.

To be continued.