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Word UP with Webb
Daily Devotion for Teens and Students
Word UP with Webb
When God lets Satan test your faith, will you still praise Him?
What would happen if God allowed Satan to test your faith to the breaking point? Would you still praise Him?
The remarkable story of Job gives us a front-row seat to perhaps the most severe faith test ever documented. Following our series on wilderness experiences, we dive into Job chapter 1, where we witness a man whose relationship with God transcended his circumstances in ways that challenge and inspire us today.
I'm struck by God's extraordinary confidence in Job's character—initiating the conversation with Satan by asking, "Have you considered my servant Job?" When Satan argues that Job's faith depends entirely on his blessed circumstances, God permits the ultimate test. In devastating succession, Job loses his livestock, servants, and all his children without a moment to recover between tragedies. Yet Scripture records Job's astonishing response: "Despite all this, Job did not sin, nor did he blame God."
This narrative confronts us with difficult questions: Why does a good God allow suffering? While I don't claim complete understanding, I've witnessed how God consistently uses trials in my own life to strengthen me for future challenges. Nothing happens without passing through His sovereign hand, and authentic faith demonstrates its power precisely when circumstances suggest we should abandon it. As I shared with our students, "If your faith cannot be tested, then it cannot be trusted." True faith isn't conditional on comfort—it stands firm in life's harshest storms.
Whatever you're facing today, I encourage you to cultivate Job-like faith. Get into God's Word, pray boldly, and take each step He reveals. Remember, "It's easy to praise God when all things are beautiful, but the true breakthrough comes when you praise Him in the dark." Your faithful response during trials can reach people who might never otherwise encounter God's transforming power.
Good morning guys. Welcome to Word Up. I am sorry we have missed the past couple of days but we are back up and going and we're going to follow up with our message from last night and jump into our daily reading today. If you have not taken the time to get in God's Word, remember we've got to do the basics, we've got to spend time reading God's Word, we've got to spend time in prayer and allowing God to show us the next move to make. And so last night's message in today's quiet time Job, chapter 1, verses 1 through 22.
Speaker 1:Job is a very powerful book. Following up last week, all of our Quiet Times dealt with being in the wilderness and Jesus' temptation that he faced in the wilderness. And here we go into Job and I can't imagine a story any more in the wilderness than where Job was and the things that he was dealing with and the temptation that was coming his way from Satan. But, man, what a powerful testimony to think that God chose Job, that God said go ahead, satan, go ahead and give it your best shot. Have you considered my servant, job? And I just I hope that one day. I definitely don't want to go through what Job has gone through. But I hope to be the one that God would say you know, it doesn't matter. Satan said it's because of that hedge of protection you've put around him, it's because he's wealthy, it's because he has servants, it's because of all the things You've blessed his household. That's the reason that he trusts you. But as soon as you let me take those things away, he will surely curse you. And God said go ahead, curse you. And God said go ahead. He knew that Job's faith was bigger than just the things that he would provide for him. And I think oftentimes in our walk, whether it's it may not be to the extent that we would curse God, that we would completely disown Him or talk negatively about Him. But when you look at the strength of our faith, are we only faithful? Are we only on fire when things are good or do we truly have that faith of Job through the hard times? Whenever you look at everything being wiped away away, back to back to back to back, there was no gap. He lost all of his animals, his livestock, he lost his servants, he lost his kids. I just can't imagine the pain and the heartache. But if you look at Job 1, verse 22, despite all of this. Job did not sin, nor did he blame God.
Speaker 1:Why does a good God allow bad things to happen? Why would God allow this? If he's so good and he's so loving, why would God allow Job to go through all of these things? Guys, the true answer is I don't know.
Speaker 1:I don't know why God does what he does, but I know that I've been through some hard times and I know I've been through some hard times and I know I've been through some difficult trials in my life. And even though nothing that happens happens without passing through the hand of God, god has used every situation to make me stronger, to teach me lessons and to prepare me for the rough battles to come. So I don't know why bad things happen. I can't explain everything that happens in your life or that will happen, but I do know that God is a good God. The Bible tells us this multiple times and I believe the Word of God. It's not something that I can put on paper, that I can write out, that I can point to to prove it. All I can tell you is what he's done in my life, and I know for sure that, if you truly will seek Him with everything you've got. If we can do the basics, get in God's Word, pray to Him and take the steps that he tells us to take. He will bless us, just like he does if you continue reading in the book of Job, One of the main things that I challenged our students with last night.
Speaker 1:If your faith is not able to be tested, then it's not able to be trusted. Trusted then it's not able to be trusted. If you're telling me that your faith can't withstand the hard test that life's going to throw, if your faith's only good when things are good and it's not strong enough to make it through the hard times in life, then I'm telling you you need to go back and truly assess your salvation and where you stand with God, because a true faith in the Lord and knowing that everything in His Word is true, knowing who he truly is and the sovereignty of the Lord, gives us hope, even in those hard times. It's easy to praise God when all things are beautiful, but the true breakthrough comes when you praise Him in the dark. When you praise God when everything else is failing, when most people would be completely distraught, ready to end it, ready to just walk away and throw their hands up and curse at God when you can praise Him through those times. He uses that to reach people that you would think could never be reached. He uses that to strengthen your faith to a new level that will allow you to truly accomplish big things for him in your walk with Christ.
Speaker 1:How can you have a faith like Job, even in adversity? What is it that you're facing today? Who is it that has let you down? What situation are you in that you either deserved and choices that you made got you there, or maybe it was the choices that somebody else made that led you there. But either way, do you have a faith like Job? Do you know that God is good and that he's given you everything that you have, and if he wants to take it away, that's perfectly fine, because you know that he's going to provide the next thing you need. Guys, I pray that you either have that faith or you find that faith that you'll get in God's word, that you'll be obedient, that you'll go with boldness wherever it is that he tells you to go. Give him everything you've got today and let him truly show you the way. I love you, guys. We'll be back here tomorrow. Ephesians, chapter 6, verses 10 through 18.