August 30, 2022
Daily Devotion:
"Blameless… "
Job 22:2-3
English Standard Version
2 “Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself. 3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?
Jobs friend Eliphaz could hardly be more cynical in asking these questions. Because he doesn't believe Job is as righteous as he claims, Eliphaz is taunting Job with the thought that God couldn't care less if Job were completely and totally righteous. This raises a few good questions: What's in it for God? Why did he make man in the first place? And what pleasure, if any, does God get when we are righteous? We can only speculate, of course, but surely there must be something to the idea that we were created in God's image and are Called God's "children." Why do parents have children, knowing in advance how much trouble they can be? Despite recognizing the great risk of disappointment associated with bringing children into the world, even new parents intuitively sense the special fulfillment that comes in having offspring. Naturally it is hard to think that God, being God, would need that kind of fulfillment. It's not as if God is somehow incomplete or lacking anything...is he? By his nature God is the very picture of completeness. But that is not to Say God likes being alone any more than we do. Because we are like him and he like us, God must also relish the joy of fellowship. Yet for a holy God, there is obviously a limitation on his ability to fellowship with that which is unholy...which would be us! Why then would God not take pleasure in our righteousness? This Means that God can have even closer fellowship with those who are righteous. Because all parents find pleasure in children who are well-behaved and respectful, should our heavenly Father feel any different about us?
The flip-sided question is : If God takes pleasure in my righteousness, how must he feel when I am not righteous?
