Integrity

Job 25-29:25 is part of today’s reading for Holy Trinity Brompton’s One Year Bible Initiative.

I am struck by Job’s response to Bildad, when he says, “I will never admit you are in the right; till I die, I will not deny my integrity. I will maintain my righteousness and never let go of it; my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live.” (Job 27:5-6).

Job must search his heart constantly, to know with such certainty his integrity before God. Job knows he cannot lie to God; he cannot hide anything from Him. Job has a deep sense of honesty that remains unshaken when his friends surmise that he must have done something wrong to anger God. I would like to have that sort of daily encounter with God that Job had, where all my faults are revealed and confessed on a daily basis, where God shows me clearly the state of my heart. Knowing the depth of my integrity with Him is scary, but liberating.

When I read the responses of Job’s friends, I am surprised because they sound so ‘right’. They say words I would easily say to a suffering friend. And yet God rebukes them later on, saying he is angry with them because they had “not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has” (42:7).

It is so easy for us to speak like Job’s friends – saying words that sound right (religious speak) but which do not communicate the heart the God; do not express the truth of who He is.

Father, teach us to know the difference between what Job’s friends said and what he said, so that we shine the light of Christ when we try to help our friends who suffer. Let us draw them closer to You rather than away from You. Teach us to know who You are, so that we know what is ‘right’ to say of You in difficult times. Let our words be gracious and merciful as You are to us.