Job 31 - Job's Final Defense

Job 31:23
“For calamity from God is a terror to me,
And because of His majesty I can do nothing.

Message: Job's Final Defense

Time: The time of Job is unclear and commonly debated. Often the language of the book can give clues. It seems to be that Job had a lifespan of close to 200 years as Job 42:16 says he lived 140 years after the events in the book.

What the Lord is Saying:

The Bible is often a book of repeats. There are core messages that basically are repeated throughout this book. 

In this chapter 31 Job asserts his integrity. 

Chastity
Verse 1 is a verse that is a good reminder that I have appreciated at various times in my life. I have made a covenant with my eyes; How then could I gaze at a virgin? The meaning of this verse is great because Job states that he has made a covenant with his eyes. He remarks that he has purposed to lead a pure life and therefore, it is impossible that he could gaze at another woman. Like, how could he? 

Job then asserts that how can we be surprised with God's wrath when our actions or our choices are not for him. Thus, what he has done is guard himself from impurity or sin. Does He not see my ways and number all my steps?(Verse 4). God sees all. How is that we think we can live our lives without surrendering daily to the Lord. 

A sincere, upright, and honest life
Job states that if he lived a life in an improper manner then he did in fact deserve God's judgment. He speaks at first of falsehood or vanity. To live a life of falsehood is to misrepresent yourself. It is to make yourself out to be something that you are not. It is not to speak the truth. Or it is living a life of deception. When I see someone getting ready to experience calamity, do I help bring it to light. Am I a person that often will wrongly shine a spotlight on other people's shortcomings? 

If I have acted in this manner then God has every right to weigh me with accurate scales which is what verse 6 says, "Let him weigh me with accurate scales." Let God accurately look at my character and treat me according to my ways. If I act in improper ways then I should receive a consequence. Why should I expect my harvest to yield produce if I have spent my time sowing seeds of selfishness. Man is so quick to thank God for his blessings but shouldn't we do the same in regards to calamity. 

Verse 1 speaks of gazing at a virgin while verse 9 speaks of being enticed by a woman: If my heart has been enticed by a woman.  The sin here is adultery. If Job acts in that way, then he states that his wife would then be allowed to go after someone else or sleep with someone else as it says may my wife grind for another. If a man chooses another woman, then he should expect his wife to do the same. The wife would then became a servant of another man. The fire of adultery burns the house down as it would uproot all my increase.

Treated his servants in an upright manner
Job switches to another subject and expresses that he has to be a good leader. What happens when someone files a claim against him? What happens when someone asserts that we have done something wrong? What happens when someone calls us into question? How do we respond? His point is that he needs to respond in an upright manner and not simply assert his position. And then he asks what will happen when the Lord questions him. The point I think is that we need to honestly use this time to look at ourselves in the mirror and see that there may be something about us that needs to be changed. Verse 13 and 14 says, If I have despised the claim of my male or female slaves when they filed a complaint against me, What then could I do when God arises?

Kindness to the Poor and Providing for the Poor
There are actually two thoughts here that Job puts forth. It seems often that all I think I need to do for the poor is write them a check and send in a little money, but Job first states that our actions toward them are to be actions of care an concern. He says in verse 16, if I have kept the poor from their desire. Have I frustrated their hopes? Have I disappointed their expectations? 

This is a tough application. There are poor all around us and how do I act toward them as they ask for money on the street corner. Do I take time to really consider them? Or do I look for a quick out? Job thought of this as supremely important. It says, "If I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,or that the needy had no covering." I do know we give our old clothes and things to the poor. I do know I give counsel to the needy often through GMO. I guess in all of life I could always do more. 

He mentions dire consequence if he doesn't act correctly. In verse 22, Let my shoulder fall from the socket. And then in verse 24 he asks whether his confidence instead lies in his money -- “If I have put my confidence in gold, and called fine gold my trust, if I have gloated because my wealth was great, and because my hand had secured so much." This is a danger in life to put our confidence instead in what we have instead of in the Lord. It's one thing to say our allegiance is in God, but how do we show this through our actions. 

Properly treating those who injure us
Do I wish injury or something bad to happen to others? More often than not, I do not, for those that I like. But, what about those that I don't like? Or those that I feel like in one way or another I am in competition with? I sense at times, that I unfortunately want their demise. It is a sad reality. Here Job says he has not been this way. In verse 29 - Have I rejoiced at the extinction of my enemy, or exulted when evil befell him? No, I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life in a curse. This is the nature of true faith, of true religion, as Albert Barnes states: It controls the heart, represses the angry and revengeful feelings, and creates in the soul an earnest desire for the happiness even of those who injure us.

Conclusion
The concluding verses of this chapter have been hotly debated over the years regarding their true meaning, according to Albert Barnes. The sentiment though is one of Job simply stating that he has tried to be a hospitable person to his neighbor and has not wished injury of them. And he does this all for His Almighty God.  
 
Promise: Job is proclaiming once again an important truth and that is his present calamity is not the result of past sin. He has lived a blameless life and his present situation is not because he has done something wrong. At times, I need to act like this and not be so quick to admit fault. I need to be confident in who I am in Christ and what I have done. I am a sinner and often do things out of that sinful nature, but I need to remember that God is working in me and many times His good ways are shining through my life.