Thurs.’s Devo - Walking Uprightly

Read: Job 8:1-11:20; 1 Corinthians 15:1-28; Psalm 38:1-22; Proverbs 21:28-29
Bildad means “confusing love”. His view of the love of God was confused. He reminds Job of what happened to his children. They were now dead because of their sin (in his opinion). If Job could look into the past he would see that they ended up where they are because of the life they lived. His conclusion was that God would never reject a blameless man, so Job cannot be blameless.
Job agreed that no man is righteous before God and his wisdom is beyond man’s. He praised the majesty of God’s power but he maintained his opinion that he was blameless and his state was not because of some sin he had committed. Job believed that the Lord was punishing him for no reason.
Zohar means “departing early” and he spoke last. He was the hardest on Job. He wished that God would speak up against Job. He told Job that God had forgiven some of his sin, but it was too much to forget it all. He gives man no hope in having any wisdom. He tells Job that he needs to repent and God will forgive him. He lists the benefits of walking pure before the Lord. You will have revelation, safety, hope, and confidence. All this is true.
The thoughts of Job’s friends were the thought of the day which was: there was no grace with God. They only saw God as the rewarder of your actions and not the lover of your soul. There are consequences for sin according to the law, but the blood of Jesus took our sin once and for all and did away with it. This is such a hard concept for us to get because we want justice. The truth is that God is the judge but he only wants to judge the unrighteous. He wants to give his children grace and justice.
In Corinthians we read that when Jesus rose from the dead, he appeared not only to the disciples, but to over 500 of his followers. He explained that through Adam, all men were cursed with death, but through Jesus, all people were given resurrection and life. One day, his last enemy, death will be put under his feet and be no more.
Lord, help us to be upright in all we do. Our Proverbs says that an upright man gives thought to all his ways. Help us to think before we act. Thank you for your grace and justice.