Spoken With Love: Week 3 Day 3

Job 29:11 – 17  

Whoever heard me spoke well of me,

    and those who saw me commended me,

12 because I rescued the poor who cried for help,

    and the fatherless who had none to assist them.

13 The one who was dying blessed me;

    I made the widow’s heart sing.

14 I put on righteousness as my clothing;

    justice was my robe and my turban.

15 I was eyes to the blind

    and feet to the lame.

16 I was a father to the needy;

    I took up the case of the stranger.

17 I broke the fangs of the wicked

    and snatched the victims from their teeth.

Mark 10:18 

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.

Summary of Job chapters 29 – 31 (which we encourage you to read in its entirety): 

If only Job’s friends had stayed silent after those seven days! Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for sympathy to turn to hostility and comfort to turn to condemnation! In these three chapters, Job crafted a sort of defense, starting with his bona fides – how he lived his life and how he was looked upon. He followed that up in chapter 30 with the plight that befell him: being mocked by others, God is silent, and no one helps. In chapter 31, Job finally laid his case on the altar, claiming his innocence and listing the evidence that he had lived a righteous life before God and fellow humans.

Your life will be remembered for what you have done. People will not remember much of what you said, but they will certainly remember how you lived. Job’s defense of himself is what we read today. Job had lived above reproach and had fulfilled what later on would be listed as Jesus’ greatest commandments: love God and love people. Job had spent his life doing this!

One thing to be clear on, however, is that what we do does not reserve our seat at the heavenly banquet, but what we do does reveal what we believe. If we claim to be Jesus-followers but do not live like Jesus, how can we make this claim? 1 John 2:6 (from the Berean Study Bible) states, “Whoever claims to abide in Him must walk as Jesus walked.” How we live our lives matters!