Read: Job 23:1-27:23; 2 Corinthians 1:12-2:11; Psalm 41:1-13; Proverbs 22:5-6
Job brings their attention to all the suffering and wrong done to innocent people. He points out that you can’t judge a man’s righteousness by the way his life turns out. This life is full of evil men who prey on the innocent. So how can they look at what happened to Job and believe it is his fault this calamity has happened to him.
Bildad still asks Job how he can consider himself righteous before God since nothing is righteous but God. Job comes back with a discourse on the power of God over the earth but stands on his integrity. He has searched his heart, and there is nothing standing between him and God. I love that Job stands up for himself and doesn’t cave to condemnation. He is an example of what we are to be. We are righteous because of the blood of Jesus, but we can also walk with a clean conscience and do good and not sin because of Christ in us.
I think that his friends were afraid of what happened to Job. They had to wonder if it would happen to them also. What we tend to do with things we are afraid of is to try to figure them out so we can beat it. That is why Job’s friends were so adamant about making it Job’s fault and not just the sovereignty of God.
Paul says the same thing Job does. He defends his holiness and clear conscience. It is Christ in us that gives us confidence to stand against accusations of the devil and men.
In this letter Paul encourages them because he hopes and believes that they have righted all the wrongs he wrote about in his first letter. He wanted to give them time to set everything straight before he came so his visit could be a joyful one instead of one where he would have to discipline the people. He tells them that if they have disciplined and forgiven the man who was sleeping with his mother-in-law then he has too. Whoever they forgive, he will also.
Lord, help us to walk in love and confidence of the grace you have given us.
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