07.03.2014 Old Testament: Job 27.2–6

To read the Bible in a year, read Job 26–28 on July 3, In the year of our Lord 2014

By Don Ruhl

It is an understatement to say that Job had a rough time. Even so, that does not give license for us to speak error, especially in regard to God and ourselves. If we charge Him with injustice while justifying ourselves, then we have made a critical error, as Job did,

“As God lives, who has taken away my justice,
And the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,
As long as my breath is in me,
And the breath of God in my nostrils,
My lips will not speak wickedness,
Nor my tongue utter deceit.
Far be it from me
That I should say you are right;
Till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go;
My heart shall not reproach me as long as I live.”
(Job 27.2–6) 

Job accused God of taking away his justice, but maintained his own righteousness. That got him into trouble with his friends, with a young man who was listening, and with God.