IMITATE THEIR FAITH

 Job Stood Firm

Poor Job was already in a state of despair when this long debate began.  From the outset he admitted that his words sometimes  amounted to "wild talk" and a "desperate man's saying." (Job 6:3, 23)   We can understand why. His words reflected the agony of his heart.  They also reflected his limited perspective. Because the tragedies that befell him and his family came to suddenly and even appeared to be supernatural, Job assumed that Jehovah was the cause. There were important events  which Job knew nothing, so he rested some  of his reasoning on faulty assumptions.

However, Job wasa a man of deep strong faith. His faith came through in much of what he said in that long debate-words that are true, beautiful, and encouraging to us today.  When he spoke of the marvels of creation, he glorified God in ways that no human that could without God's help. For instance, he said  that Jehovah is "suspending the earth upon nothing," a statement many centuries in advance of scientific knowledge.  (Job 26:7)  And when Job spoke of his own hope for the future, he expressed a confidence that other men of great faith have held as well.  Job  believed that if death should take him, God would remember him, would miss him, and would eventually restore him to life. - JOB 14:13-15; HEBREWS 11:17-19, 35. 

What, though, about the issue of integrity? Eliphaz and his two friends insisted that man's integrity makes no difference to God.  Did Job swallow that vile teaching?  Far from it!  Job asserted that intergrity matters to God.  He said confidently of Jehovah:  "He will recognize my integrity." (Job 31:6)   Further, Job saw clearly that the false reasoning of his would be comforters amounted to an attack on his integrity. It stirred Job to make his longest speech, one that finally closed the mouths of those three men. 

Job saw that his integrity involved his everyday life. So he defenced teh way he lived and acted. For example, he avoided all forms of idolatry; he treated others with kindness and dignity; he kept morally clean, cherishing his marriage; and above all, he remained loyally devoted to the only true God, Jehovah.  Thus Job was able to say with his whole heart:  "Until I die, I will not renounce my integrity!" -JOB 27:5; 31:1, 2, 9-11, 16-28, 26-28.

Next time: IMITATE THEIR FAITH/JOB -Imitate the Faith of Job

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