So I’m writing this sermon about Job (coming this Sunday!) and I had this thought. It’s nothing crazy or unheard of, but it really hit me right here (I’m pointing to my heart).

As you probably know, early in the book of Job, the Devil makes an accusation to the Lord about the man in question. Now the Devil making an accusation is not unusual, throughout Scripture we see he has two missions in this world: to be an adversary and to be an accuser.

Both of those roles are seen prominently in Job.

He accuses Job of only loving God because God gives him good things. This will lead to Satan becoming an adversary against Job, hurting him and trying to break his faithfulness to God.

But that makes me realize something…

Satan is not omniscient. He doesn’t know everything the way God does. So when the Devil says “Job will turn from You if Your blessings are removed” he is just making an assumption. He’s assuming the worst in Job, whereas God remains confident that Job will be true to Him.

In other words, when people assume the worst in others, they act like Satan the accuser, not like God the defender. When we assume the worst in people, we often (sometimes subconsciously) try to nudge them toward a bad end, because we want to be right about them.

So assume good in people and then help them achieve that good. You’ll live a lot more like God and a lot less like Satan when you do.