Scripture:
Is not your wickedness great?
Are not your sins endless?
You demanded security from your relatives for no reason;
you stripped people of their clothing, leaving them naked.
You gave no water to the weary
and you withheld food from the hungry,
though you were a powerful man, owning land—
an honored man, living on it.
And you sent widows away empty-handed
and broke the strength of the fatherless.
Job 22:5-9
Observation: As Job's friends continue to assess Job's condition, they make up significant accusations. They now say Job's sins are "endless" ... he sinned against his own family, the poor, the weary, widows, orphans ... he is outright wicked!! These accusations outline a downright mean person who is being righteously punished. And of course the issue is that none of it is true. Job was, in fact, loving toward family and strangers, and was held up by God himself as the example of goodness.
Application: This is, I'm sure, what people think of me ... that I was punished for my wrongdoing. It doesn't matter if it has any alignment to facts. Job's friends know he was a very good man, and now accuse him of endless wickedness for no reason other than they believe God is punishing him and therefore they are retroactively rewriting what they know of Job. Again, I'm sure this is what some people did about me. They believe I am not a good man because of "punishment" regardless of what they knew of me.
I know God does not punish. He may correct, and he certainly uses the world to teach us. And I have learned. I will never dwell on what people may now think of me. I will instead live for the only audience that matters. I will seek a life that pleases only God. I will find where I can serve the Lord and then serve him. Others may think what they like.
Prayer: Lord, I declare it today, you are the only one whom I seek to serve and honor. I will do this by loving your people, and striving to do you will. Please guide my life, hourly, daily, and long term. May I do your will alone. Amen.
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