Free Angelic Pathways by Chantel Lysette Page A

passed through oral, cautionary tales to stories of the Bible, such as the book of Job, we are caught up in a never-ending cycle of judgment wherein we take stock of everything in our lives and place them in one of two categories: good or bad.
2 And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. 3 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. 4 And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. 5 But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. 6 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.
    Look out, Job. They’re comin’ for you, man. They’re comin’ for you.
    So here we have the most righteous man who had ever graced the planet during his days, and Heaven pretty much offered him up on a platter in some sort of unspoken bet. Did I mention he was the most righteous?
    When Job was befallen with an acute case of rotten luck, his wife belittled him. His friends, however, heard about it and came from afar to cheer him up. What really stands out here is verse eleven: “Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came everyone from his own place … to mourn with him and to comfort him.” The man had lost his home, his family, his riches, and his health, and it was all attributed to some sort of nefarious plot. Well, the Bible clearly sets the story up for us and shows that it was Satan who did it. Mind you, this was an evil that was permitted by God. God could have easily said no. But he didn’t. Without that approval, Job would have continued being righteous and rich until his cushy death.
    Unfortunately, such was not to happen.
    Stories like this are what keep many of us stuck in the belief that the Devil is after us when bad things occur, or that we must be in God’s great favor when good things occur. I believe we have to pull back for a moment and be honest with ourselves. It’s time we understood that the notions of good and bad are purely subjective and only describe situations or circumstances that make us uncomfortable to one degree or another. When Job had riches, it was assumed that he was in God’s good graces. When he sat upon a pile of ashes, homeless and destitute, everyone around him believed that a great evil was upon him.
    These notions of good and bad have been with humankind forever, and I have no doubt that they always will be. Despite the fact that they are subjective and are based purely on one’s perspective and how they make one feel, it seems we will never be able to escape their prison of illusion. And for so long as we exist in this reality, we may be hindered from understanding and accepting that life is neither good nor bad, but simply is .
    What befalls us has nothing to do with devils chasing us or God punishing us, but instead with the lessons we are to learn in this lifetime. If we can train our minds to first examine situations in terms of what we can learn from them instead of wasting energy on blame, we will find our existence far easier to navigate. While the challenges will be no less daunting, the losses no less painful, and the disappointments no less stinging, we will at least find ourselves able to endure much more than we might give ourselves credit for.
    Though some of you may be a lot like my old self and therefore hesitant to view spiritual lessons in this light, I still ask you to give this perspective a chance. I believe that actively engaging the divine and connecting directly with our cosmic siblings helps to open our eyes to why we must