[:en]SCRIPTURE: JOB 31
“If I have put my trust in gold or said to pure gold, ‘You are my security’, If I have rejoiced over my great wealth, the fortune my hands had gained, If I have regarded the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor, so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand offered them a kiss of homage, then these also would be sins to be judge, for I would have been unfaithful to God on high” (vs. 24-28)
Job concluded his final defense by naming specific sins and denied that he had committed them:
- I did not look lustfully at a girl (v. 1)
- I did not walk in falsehood or deceit (v. 2)
- My heart had not been led by my eyes and my hands had not defiled (v. 7)
- My heart had never been enticed by a woman (v. 9)
- I did not deny justice to my men servants and maid servants (v. 13)
- I did not deny the desires of the poor, the widows and the fatherless (v. 16)
- I did not let a needy man without a garment (v. 19)
- I did not raise my hand against the fatherless by having influence in court (v. 21)
- I had not put my trust in gold as my security and rejoiced over my great wealth (v. 25)
- I did not rejoice at my enemy’s misfortune or troubles and involve a curse against his life (v. 30)
- I did not let a stranger spend the night in the street (v. 32)
- I did not conceal my sin nor hide my guilt in my heart (v. 323)
- I did not devoured yields from land without payment or broken the the spirit of its tenants (vs. 38-3.9)
Job wanted the Lord to hear him. He hoped that the Almighty would answer him. But God remained silent.
REFLECTION:
- Do you let your eyes wander lustfully?
- Do you allow your feet to walk in falsehood and deceit?
- Is your heart filled with lust?
- How do you treat others?
- Do you put your trust in material possessions?
- How do you respond to the misfortunes and sufferings of your enemies?
- Do you provide for the needy?
- Are you a faithful steward of God’s resources?
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