In this chapter, Job, again, contradicts the statements he made in chapter 21. Here’s the chapter in its entirety: “Job continued speaking: “I make this vow by the living God, who has taken away my rights, by the Almighty who has embittered my soul. So long as I live, while I have breath from God, my lips will speak no evil, and my tongue will speak no lies. I will never concede that you are right; until I die, I will defend my innocence. I will maintain my innocence without wavering. My conscience is clear for as long as I live. (Wow…Job is blindly confident in his righteousness. Is this a flaw in Job’s character? Is a righteous attitude a characteristic that we all should work to extinguish?)
“May my enemy be punished like the wicked, my adversary like evil men. For what hope do the godless have when God cuts them off and takes away their life? Will God listen to their cry when trouble comes upon them? Can they take delight in the Almighty? Can they call to God at any time?
“I will teach you about God’s power. I will not conceal anything that concerns the Almighty. But I don’t need to, for you yourselves have seen all this; yet you are saying all these useless things to me.
“This is what the wicked will receive from God; this is their inheritance from the Almighty. If they have a multitude of children, their children will die in war or starve to death. Those who survive will be brought down to the grave by a plague, with no one to mourn them, not even their wives.
“Evil people may have all the money in the world, and they may store away mounds of clothing. But the righteous will wear that clothing, and the innocent will divide all that money. The houses built by the wicked are as fragile as a spiderweb, as flimsy as a shelter made of branches.
“The wicked go to bed rich but wake up to find that all their wealth is gone. Terror overwhelms them, and they are blown away in the storms of the night. The east wind carries them away, and they are gone. It sweeps them away. It whirls down on them without mercy. They struggle to flee from its power. But everyone jeers at them and mocks them.” (Job 27) (Wow…this is drastically different from what Job said about the wicked in chapter 21.)
Lord, thank you for your Word today! Help us be righteous, but remove the “attitude” of righteousness from our character. We are no better or less than any other person on this planet. Lord, we love you!
May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
….AND MAY WE ALL PRACTICE THIS WITH ONE ANOTHER.
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