Job 31
In response to his critical friends, Job explains many ways he had endeavored to live a righteous life, listing a number of ways he may have fallen into a trap yet avoided sinful behavior. Temptation is part of our reality, how do we respond to it?
Clearly, Job was a successful man of wealth, strove to lead a righteous life, and yet had lost almost everything, including his heath, but not unto death. As we read in the beginning of Job the impactful conversation where God draws the line with Satan. The Bible illustrates that wealth in itself is not evil but our attitude towards it makes the difference.
I am focusing on a small part of Job 31, it struck me as a widespread temptation people in an affluent society succumb to.
“If I have put my confidence in gold,
And called fine gold my trust,
25 If I have been glad because my wealth was great,
And because my hand had found so much,
26 If I have looked at the sun when it shone
Or the moon going in splendor,
27 And my heart became secretly enticed,
And my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,
28 That too would have been an iniquity calling for judgment,
For I would have denied God above. – JOB 31:24-28
Especially precious metals has since ancient days has held great value, and it formed the covering of many idols. The metal in accord to its own value and anything given great earthly value lends itself to becoming an idol and given special status within our hearts prone to worship, if not the one true living God, then an idol – everything else is idolatry (in case you needed clarity on the 2nd Commandment from the original and Hebrew Old Testament teachings).
In this world, the accumulation of wealth is frequently attributed to the possessor when the ability to create wealth (morally) is a blessing from God. How you achieve it, what you do with it and to whom you give credit to makes all the difference. Many a pagan king were used by God to fulfill His sovereign plans, and when those kings humbled themselves and gave God the credit for their success, those kings, even pagan kings prospered. If they did not, and they would self-aggrandize, they would be brought to ruin by God.
In verse 27, there is a weird term “threw a kiss from my mouth” represents an act of worship. Not sure how but it does. This means, according to 26 and 27, that the sun and the moon, despite being a creation of God, is often worshipped as gods or given divine status without respect for or in ignorance of God who is the Creator.
The ability to give God the credit for all blessings in life comes from a realistic view of God’s holiness and human sinful depravation. it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment – Hebrews 9:27.
All people from throughout time will be judged by the one true, holy and righteous God of all creation. The moral laws are absolute and require justice be given by a holy and good God. It is through his love and mercy, that God provides a way of Grace to save all people.
Scripture is abundantly clear that man is sinful and depraved in nature. Of course, we can do good things in our own minds, but although we may understand the academic reality of the moral law (the Ten Commandments), we must also realize in contrition we’ve broken every one and still or prone to break each one. We need Grace and not justice although our judgmental hearts desire and crave justice for others, we commonly lack the awareness to grasp the absolute hotiness and of the living God who will judge all in the end.
Man is not capable to work towards salvation and must place our complete trust in the mercy and grace of God, a God who loves and is/was willing to suffering and self-sacrifice Himself in effort to redeem the humanity He created. Only is his self-sacrificing love do we have hope that our sin debt is paid for and the Son’s righteousness is imputed upon all believers that we will be accepted into God’s holy kingdom, enjoying an eternal life that begins now and not after we die.
That is the Gospel, that God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son, so that all who believe may not perish but have everlasting life. – John 3:16 In Christ is eternal life,
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me. – John 14:6. That is the Truth and it’s a good thing God came to earth to emphasize this Truth.
For a one minute explanation of the Gospel from the late Pastor John MacArthur, watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCP9UcC7BzE
For a review of the Ten Commandments: https://www.challenyee.com/the-ten-commandments/
All quoted excerpts have footnotes removed, usually from Legacy Standard Bible (LSB), sometimes from New International Version (NIV), on rare occasion the Amplified Bible (AMP).
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Thank you. I cried when I read this.