Rewarding Righteousness
OPENING PRAYER:
Father God, use my daily interpersonal contacts to mature me. May I learn patience, forgiveness, courage, and challenge from others.
“I made a covenant with my eyes
not to look lustfully at a young woman.
2 For what is our lot from God above,
our heritage from the Almighty on high?
3 Is it not ruin for the wicked,
disaster for those who do wrong?
4 Does he not see my ways
and count my every step?
5 “If I have walked with falsehood
or my foot has hurried after deceit—
6 let God weigh me in honest scales
and he will know that I am blameless—
7 if my steps have turned from the path,
if my heart has been led by my eyes,
or if my hands have been defiled,
8 then may others eat what I have sown,
and may my crops be uprooted.
9 “If my heart has been enticed by a woman,
or if I have lurked at my neighbor’s door,
10 then may my wife grind another man’s grain,
and may other men sleep with her.
11 For that would have been wicked,
a sin to be judged.
12 It is a fire that burns to Destruction[a];
it would have uprooted my harvest.
13 “If I have denied justice to any of my servants,
whether male or female,
when they had a grievance against me,
14 what will I do when God confronts me?
What will I answer when called to account?
15 Did not he who made me in the womb make them?
Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?
16 “If I have denied the desires of the poor
or let the eyes of the widow grow weary,
17 if I have kept my bread to myself,
not sharing it with the fatherless—
18 but from my youth I reared them as a father would,
and from my birth I guided the widow—
19 if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing,
or the needy without garments,
20 and their hearts did not bless me
for warming them with the fleece from my sheep,
21 if I have raised my hand against the fatherless,
knowing that I had influence in court,
22 then let my arm fall from the shoulder,
let it be broken off at the joint.
23 For I dreaded destruction from God,
and for fear of his splendor I could not do such things.
24 “If I have put my trust in gold
or said to pure gold, ‘You are my security,’
25 if I have rejoiced over my great wealth,
the fortune my hands had gained,
26 if I have regarded the sun in its radiance
or the moon moving in splendor,
27 so that my heart was secretly enticed
and my hand offered them a kiss of homage,
28 then these also would be sins to be judged,
for I would have been unfaithful to God on high.
29 “If I have rejoiced at my enemy’s misfortune
or gloated over the trouble that came to him—
30 I have not allowed my mouth to sin
by invoking a curse against their life—
31 if those of my household have never said,
‘Who has not been filled with Job’s meat?’—
32 but no stranger had to spend the night in the street,
for my door was always open to the traveler—
33 if I have concealed my sin as people do,[b]
by hiding my guilt in my heart
34 because I so feared the crowd
and so dreaded the contempt of the clans
that I kept silent and would not go outside—
35 (“Oh, that I had someone to hear me!
I sign now my defense—let the Almighty answer me;
let my accuser put his indictment in writing.
36 Surely I would wear it on my shoulder,
I would put it on like a crown.
37 I would give him an account of my every step;
I would present it to him as to a ruler.)—
38 “if my land cries out against me
and all its furrows are wet with tears,
39 if I have devoured its yield without payment
or broken the spirit of its tenants,
40 then let briers come up instead of wheat
and stinkweed instead of barley.”
The words of Job are ended.
Footnotes
[a] Job 31:12 Hebrew Abaddon
[b] Job 31:33 Or as Adam did
REFLECT:
Pay attention to your breathing for a few breaths. Thank God for the gift of air and for the miracle of our bodies absorbing what is good and expelling what is harmful.
‘But I’ve done everything right!’ This was the heart cry of someone I was praying for once. She wouldn’t say she was as blameless as Job, but she had always sought to follow God’s Word and his leading in her life. Yet in one particular area she felt as though God had let her down, as though he hadn’t kept his side of the bargain.
It is easy to slip into the sense that life isn’t fair, especially when things are going badly. We can subconsciously believe that God has a duty to reciprocate when we obey and serve him. In reality, he has already done so much for us – he created this world for us to live in, and gives us not only our daily bread, but our daily breath! The very air we breathe is a precious gift from him, without which we would be nothing.
And that is before we even mention him sending his precious Son to be sacrificed on our behalf and give us his eternal life. Who are we to ask anything more of such a Father?
APPLY:
Our worship and obedience are not bargaining tools to gain more blessings, but appropriate and necessary responses to the life, love, and salvation we have already received. Thank the Lord for his abundant gifts – and repent of the times you have felt entitled.
CLOSING PRAYER:
“Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. · Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits ….” (Psa. 103:1-2, KJV).
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