An upright heart does not dread a scrutiny. A good man is willing to know the worst of himself and will be thankful to those who will faithfully tell him of his faults.
Job 31
1 I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
2 For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
3 Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?
4 Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?
5 If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;
6 Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.
7 If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;
8 Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.
9 If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door;
10 Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.
11 For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.
12 For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.
13 If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me;
14 What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?
15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?
16 If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
17 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;
18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother’s womb;)
19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;
20 If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:
22 Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.
23 For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.
24 If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;
25 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much;
26 If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;
27 And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand:
28 This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.
29 If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him:
30 Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul.
31 If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.
32 The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller.
33 If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:
34 Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of the door?
35 Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.
36 Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me.
37 I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him.
38 If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;
39 If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:
40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.
Job 31 Intro – J. Vernon McGee
Job 31:1-12 – J. Vernon McGee
Job 31:13-40 – J. Vernon McGee
Job 31 – The Clean Life
Job had specially guarded against impurity, for its heritage is one of calamity and disaster. He is sure that even if he were weighed by God Himself there would be no iniquity discovered in him. He even goes so far as to invoke the most awful results if he has sinned against the seventh commandment. It is well for us if we are able with similar sincerity to appeal to the verdict of God and of our own heart. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to beget in us purity and separateness from sin, that we may walk with unsullied garments.
Job also protests the even-handedness of his dealings with his servants, alleging the principle which underlies the whole Christian teaching on the point, that we all have been made by the same Creator. He insists on his benevolence to the widow and the fatherless. He is careful to show that he had not failed in doing all the good that was within his reach. Alas, how few of us can say as much! How many such occasions cross our path every day, which we heedlessly let pass!
With this appeal Job goes into the presence of God, and asks for a reply. In the strong gospel light we are too deeply convicted of sin to dare to do this, and must rely upon the merits of Christ. In these alone can we approach the uncreated light. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Find the missing words then click and drag the letters in the grid below. Click “Start“
4 Doth not he ______ my ________, and __________ all my __________?
6 Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine __________________.
14 What then shall I ____ when ______ riseth ____? and when he ________________, what shall I ____________ him?
Job 31:4 – The Lord Jesus keeps account of all and will bring every work into judgment. “If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God” (1 John 3:21).
Job 31:6—Mine integrity.
Integrity is from the Latin word integrita, wholeness. It means whole-heartedness. It is interesting in this chapter to see what, in Job’s estimation, it involved.
Job 31:1. Purity in the look.
Job 31:7. Cleanliness of the hands.
Job 31:13. Thoughtfulness for domestic servants and underlings.
Job 31:16. Justice to the poor and the widow.
Job 31:17. Willingness to share morsels, and to be a father to the fatherless.
Job 31:19-20. Clothing for the naked.
Job 31:21. The refusal to depute to others help which one might render.
Job 31:24. The heart weaned from the love of gold.
Job 31:26. Refusal to turn aside to idols.
Job 31:29. Inability to rejoice at the destruction of those who had derided and hated.
Job 31:33. The frank confession of wrongdoing.
It becomes us, prayerfully, to go over these items, and use them as the catechism of our soul, for if this was the standard of character for one who lived so many centuries before the full revelation of Christ, what should not our standard be! How impossible, however, it is to live like this from without! We must enshrine within us the blessed Spirit of God, who alone originates and maintains that perfect love to God and man which compared to job’s maxims is as the heart to the body. Law is given as the expression of God’s will for the regulation of life: but it is impossible to keep the law till we have the love; and it is impossible to have the love until we have the Lord Jesus Christ, through the Holy Ghost. —Our Daily Homily