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“One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting at the oldest brother’s house, a messenger arrived at Job’s home with this news: “Your oxen were plowing, with the donkeys feeding beside them, when the Sabeans raided us. They stole all the animals and killed all the farmhands. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.” – Job 1:13-15.
We live in the intersection of the two realms. There is the physical or natural realm where day-to-day life takes place. Our five senses help us navigate this natural realm. The other realm is the spiritual realm, which is the most important. We need to realize that both realms interact with one another and influence one another daily. The book of Job helps us some insight into that reality.
In Job 1:13-19, Job gets a string of bad news. One bearer of bad news is still speaking when another shows up, followed by another, and still another. It had to seem the worst day ever. All of Job’s material things are gone. Not only did he lose his livestock, his source of living and income, but he also lost his servants and his children. His life seemed to unravel completely.
If we looked at Job’s situation as part of the physical, natural realm, we would try to comfort him with physical remedies like hiring a financial advisor, a grief counselor, some antidepressants, etc. Those things make sense in the physical world, and that would suffice if we only believed in a physical realm. But Job 1:6-12 enhances our understanding of Job’s situation: What happened to Job was not just a coincidence. It is the interrelationship of the two realms. The two realms are not isolated from each other. Something was going on in the invisible, spiritual realm that affected the visible, physical realm. Satan was at work. Job 1 and 2 tell us that Satan could take Job’s possessions. Satan also affected Job’s health.
The essence of our being is spiritual because we were created by a spiritual God with a spiritual purpose. We are not trying to take our human experiences and add God to them—quite the contrary. In the natural realm, there is very little we can do to change our circumstances, much less our hearts. Unfortunately, we have our flesh to deal with and our enemy’s agenda to destroy God’s purposes in our life. That is why natural weapons won’t work.“Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.” (John 3:6). There is nothing we can do to achieve salvation through natural means. Not religious practice. Not religious accomplishment. Not religious titles. Not religious pedigree. Not the recognition of the community. Humans can’t muster the righteousness or perfection, or power to enter the Kingdom. But God can and does do it by the power of His Holy Spirit.
The outcome of our lives rests completely on the choices we make moment to moment to walk with God or rely on our resources. Our actions will either react in our natural state or respond to the Spirit of God living inside us.
Discussion Questions:
- Why do you think most Christians rarely discuss the “spirit realm”? Is it ignorance? Is it fear? Why should we be more aware of the spiritual realm?