Meaningless Judgment

Scripture:
These ten times you have cast reproach upon me;
    are you not ashamed to wrong me?
And even if it be true that I have erred,
    my error remains with myself.
If indeed you magnify yourselves against me
    and make my disgrace an argument against me,
know then that God has put me in the wrong
    and closed his net about me.
Job 19:3-6

Observation: Job's friends have judged him, and Job gives his response ... they have no right to judge him. If he has sinned, God is judging him, and all the things God can do to him - lowering him in health, status, love, life, wealth, etc. - are SO much more than the petty words of his "friends" that their judgment is meaningless. In fact, by elevating themselves through that judgment, they are shameful and now under God's judgment themselves for exhibiting such pride while failing to show any mercy.

Application: I checked ... and yes, I blogged on part of these same verses last year, and clearly still have not learned my lesson.

I am SO quick to judge others - to consider them foolish for their life choices, or stupid by their actions, or sinful by their behavior. As if I expect my judgment to have any bearing on their lives, and to somehow carry weight in a way that would drive them to change. Truly, all my judgment does is prove that I am a petty, little, prideful, arrogant, cruel jerk.

While God does not curse, he does remove blessing, and as a result I see the results in others' lives. I see their destroyed relationships, personal struggles, divided families, lost ambitions, broken lives, and sometimes I feel sorry for them. But instead of encouraging, I judge. They will never respond to that except through hatred of me. And what is happening to them - as a result of God's absence in their lives and thus God's real-time judgment on their lives - is so much worse than my ridiculous words.

In that context, my only possible response to others should be pity and mercy. Even someone like me who struggles to love others can see that the important parts of their lives are filled with pain, and their future eternity is SO much worse, that being kind is the LEAST I could possibly do.

I have GOT to turn this around.

Prayer: Lord, I beg for your forgiveness of my terrible judging nature. It is a sin of mine - not others - when I judge them in any manner. Please forgive that sin, and also aid me in repentance of this characteristic. Turn me from the inside out to not judge, but to see others as already being in judgment and to instead reflect the love and mercy of Jesus upon them. I sincerely seek this change in my life so that I never have to see myself in Job 19 again. Amen, and amen.