For My Family - Job 31 (grace, Jerusalem, faith, Biblical)

[Alpha8207]

This scripture passage is kinda long, if you don't want to read it all, you can cheat and just read where I've added emphasis by bolding....

Job 31

1 "I made a covenant with my eyes
not to look lustfully at a girl.

2 For what is man's lot from God above,
his 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 in 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 shameful,
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 my menservants and maidservants
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 him as would a father,
and from my birth I guided the widow-

19 if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing,
or a needy man without a garment,

20 and his heart did not bless me
for warming him 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 his life-

31 if the men of my household have never said,
'Who has not had his fill of 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 men do,
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;
like a prince I would approach him.)-

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 weeds instead of barley."
The words of Job are ended.

That's a lot of 'if's.

I don't know about you, but I'm guilty of more than one. And it makes me realize something.

I need to be more sensitive to others around me. I need to defend the defenseless. Help those who can't help themselves.

And I need to do it with no strings attached.

I pray that I'll look at each one of those issues above and realize that if I'm OK on one, more likely than not, I need to work on 2 or 3 of the others.

I want God to continue to raise the standard for me. I never want to be OK with where I am in my Christian walk. Several thoughts are coming to mind, but time prohibits me from posting them all, but I will say this much. In every instance I've ever read of someone going to Jerusalem (the biblical picture of striving to God) the refernces say going 'up to Jerusalem'. Whether the parties were coming from the north, south, east, or west, they were always going 'up to Jerusalem'.

What's that got to do with this passage? We need to always be moving up.

Striving for excellence.

Seeking more of God.

And dealing with our 'If's.

Because, as verse 15 says above about our fellow man, " Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?"

Love God, love people.

That's what Jesus told us to do, but that's for another day.

Pray for me on my 'if's, I'll be praying for you on yours.

Trying to reflect the perfect reflection is my goal for this day.

Set one for you too.

Have a great day, family.

I Love you all.

(Hope there's no typos, I'm out the door for a busy day so "If my hands have made errors, may you forgive me and overlook them") Can't wait to read your comments when I return!)

[cg81]

Originally Posted by Alpha8207

What's that got to do with this passage? We need to always be moving up.

Thank you for the verses! It is important as Christians to keep examining our hearts. I have found over and over again that I can't come to a place where I say "I'm okay now, I can relax." Even tho we shouldn't be agitated or worried about our walk with God, yet we need to deny ourselves day by day. Sometimes it seems like just when I overcome something, something else pops up. This can either discourage us or cause us to lean on the Lord more. He can give strength to overcome the daily battle!

[Alpha8207]

Originally Posted by cg81

Thank you for the verses! It is important as Christians to keep examining our hearts. I have found over and over again that I can't come to a place where I say "I'm okay now, I can relax." Even tho we shouldn't be agitated or worried about our walk with God, yet we need to deny ourselves day by day. Sometimes it seems like just when I overcome something, something else pops up. This can either discourage us or cause us to lean on the Lord more. He can give strength to overcome the daily battle!

Yeah, it's that "I'm OK", "I'm above reproach","I'm innocent" attitude that tell me more about a person's character and true condition than anything else they could say.

I'm not OK, I'm not about reproach, I'm not innocent....only through grace and mercy am I anything at all, ya know?

Thanks for your post.

[jeffncandace]

Hey Alpha...really an awesome post! I can say with authority and shame I am guilty of more than one "if". Thank God that his mercy endures forever. I feel encouraged to reflect on the attitude of my heart and dig into the Word today.

Thank you for obeying God and posting this thread.

[arguy1973]

I ask myself this alot..whats my motivation..is it selfish, what "I" think is the right thing to do..or what God says is the right thing to do, and sometimes, if I were to draw a map, from where I need to be and the road I have traveled to get there, you would see ALOTof detours and paths that werent meant to be, because of the IFS. And the bad thing is, I knew they were ifs before I started, like playing connect the dots when the next number should be four, and instead of following the rules I tried to jump on my own to number 6...I hope Im making sense. What Im trying to say is..I should rely on God, instead of self, and put him first more, and maybe I wouldnt color outside the lines so much.

[jeffncandace]

Originally Posted by arguy1973

I ask myself this alot..whats my motivation..is it selfish, what "I" think is the right thing to do..or what God says is the right thing to do, and sometimes, if I were to draw a map, from where I need to be and the road I have traveled to get there, you would see ALOTof detours and paths that werent meant to be, because of the IFS. And the bad thing is, I knew they were ifs before I started, like playing connect the dots when the next number should be four, and instead of following the rules I tried to jump on my own to number 6...I hope Im making sense. What Im trying to say is..I should rely on God, instead of self, and put him first more, and maybe I wouldnt color outside the lines so much.

Amen brother. We all color outside the lines sometimes...thank God for his tender mercies, and patience with those who truly desire to be as Christ-like as possible. I know I desire it, but am far from it. I think that the attitude of the heart is what God finds most important.

[aiangel_writer]

Wow Alpha, what a wonderful thought provoking scripture this morning. This piece is a reminder to me that I strive each day to walk the good walk, yet at the end of the day, I fall so very short of the goal. I war with my flesh on a daily basis, and can get so busy I forget to help the ones who need us most, this makes me ashamed of myself. Then there are those days when everything seems to click into place, and I go about my day with a smile on my face, taking time to cheer people up, just trying to elicit a smile, if only for a moment. Sadly, these days are fewer than those busy ones. Thank you Alpha, for the reminder that we can all do better, not to become complacent and think we have reached the pinnacle, but to strive to follow Jesus, to take up the cross and press onward.

[kaykay]

Well, too bad about you guys, but kaykay here is perfect and blameless!


Just kidding, just kidding...back off from your keyboards!
Don't really have much to add to what you guys have said.
I don't remember if Job was defending himself in this passage to his friends who had kinda indicted Job as being a sinner (or else why had all this tragedy befallen him.) Or whether at this point Job was pleading his case before God.
Either way, I think in the book of Job we recognize one of the lessons is that our own righteousness will not necessarily shield us from tribulation.

[I LOVE NORTH CAROLINA]

Thank you Alpha for again sharing God's Word and your wise thoughts also. Verses 33-34 say to me that we cannot hide from God.

[Miss Blue]

Aren't we all guilty of some of these "ifs" at the end of the day? Isn't it wonderful that God has loved us enough to provide a way for us to be forgiven our "ifs"