Maintaining Integrity
in Daily Living
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Key Verse: “All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils; My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.” Selected Scriptures: |
IN OUR LAST LESSON, Job had maintained his desire to defend his cause before God. Through all this, his friends continued their attack upon him, claiming he had to be wicked and that was why God was allowing his suffering. In today’s lesson Job continues to maintain his integrity. In chapter twenty-seven, verse four, Job says that he would never ‘speak wickedness’ nor allow his ‘tongue’ to speak ‘deceit.’ In his defense he claims he never would give in to his so-called friends and say he was wicked, and that was the reason God was punishing him.
Job continues, “If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit; Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.” (31:5,6) He felt that he was being unfairly judged by a pair of faulty balances (scales). How important are exact scales? Job felt his friends were weighing him by uneven scales. “A false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is his delight. The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them. The righteousness of the perfect [morally upright] shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.”—Prov. 11:1,3,5
How often, in times of distress, man looks for excuses for the problems he is going through. Was Job making excuses? No. However, he was asking God to hear him. He could not find any reason for his suffering. In Proverbs we read, “To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue. All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord. Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. The Lord works out everything for his own ends—even the wicked for a day of disaster. The Lord detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished. Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear [reverence] of the Lord a man avoids evil. When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him.”—Prov. 16:1-7, New International Version
Evidently, Job had not yet learned the lesson of wisdom of his own human frailties. From his standpoint, wisdom only came from knowing God and from reverence. His defense would only come when he could speak to God face-to-face. Job asks, “Where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living. God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof. Unto man he said, Behold, the fear [reverence] of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.”—Job 28:12,13,23,28
Job felt in his heart that he was innocent of any charges made against him and his defense must be made only to God. “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (II Tim. 3:12) “He that judgeth me is the Lord.”—I Cor. 4:4