"Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die." (Job 2: 9)
The next verse gives more insight on Job's "real" troubles:
"But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips." (Job 2: 10)
Job did not sin with his lips, but the deeper issue of man is the heart, and in his heart, Job was not just sinning, he was a sinner, as are all men who are born dead in their trespasses (Ephesians 2: 1-2).
Jesus declared that the inner man, the heart, is the seat of the troubles for all of us:
"Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man." (Matthew 15: 11)
Jesus explained at length what He meant in this statement:
"Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? 18But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. 19For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: 20These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man." (Matthew 15: 17-20)
We need a new heart, not just a new set of behaviors, not just a steady set of sacrifices, as Job had been doing continually (Job 1: 5), and for all our sacrifices, we just cannot take in the fullness of how bad, or how "dead" we are.
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17: 9)
David never presumed to make himself better. He asked God to cleanse his heart:
"Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults." (Psalm 19: 12)
and also
"2Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin." (Psalm 51: 2)
and then
"10Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." 9Psalm 51: 10)
The prayer which David prayed, God would promise to all of us:
"Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: 33But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." (Jeremiah 31: 31-34)
This New Covenant was cut between God the Father and His Son, our High Priest, God made flesh, who stand in our stead at the right hand of the Father:
"And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." (Hebrews 12: 24)
Only God gets to be the Blessor, because He has cut the New Covenant with Jesus, and He is our representative.
Still, Job wanted to be the blessor, not the blessed:
"Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die." (Job 2: 9)
Young's Literal Translation is more accurate:
"And his wife saith to him, 'Still thou art keeping hold on thine integrity: bless God and die."
Bless God and die. . .man's greatest problem will never be our frustration with God, our upset, or even our tears of fear and frustration.
Too many of us believe that God is either unfair or unable, and when bad things happen, we justify ourselves instead of God, we see ourselves as the victims, as individuals who deserve better, and we reproach God because He is not good, or not good enough.
In effect, we see ourselves as bringing something to God's work, to His efforts, when He has done all things, and wants us to trust Him, to put our hands in His.
Job wanted to be the blessor, when only God has the power and authority to bless. We have no integrity to hold onto, we have only our lost state, and then we see our Savior, and in Him we find all blessings:
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." (Ephesians 1: 3)
When we stop seeing ourselves as the source of any good things, and we see every good and perfect gift coming from God our Father, then indeed we receive all things!
Do not try to bless God, or to suppose that God is unfair or uncaring about your situation. Recognize that only He can bless you, and receive from Him all things!
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