Job 31: 1 – 15
Getting To Know You, Getting To Know All About You
1 “I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young woman? 2 For what is the allotment of God from above, and the inheritance of the Almighty from on high? 3 Is it not destruction for the wicked, and disaster for the workers of iniquity? 4 Does He not see my ways, and count all my steps? 5 “If I have walked with falsehood, or if my foot has hastened to deceit, 6 let me be weighed on honest scales, that God may know my integrity. 7 If my step has turned from the way, or my heart walked after my eyes, or if any spot adheres to my hands, 8 then let me sow, and another eat; Yes, let my harvest be rooted out. 9 “If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or if I have lurked at my neighbor’s door, 10 then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down over her. 11 For that would be wickedness; yes, it would be iniquity deserving of judgment. 12 For that would be a fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all my increase. 13 “If I have despised the cause of my male or female servant when they complained against me, 14 what then shall I do when God rises up? When He punishes, how shall I answer Him? 15 Did not He who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same One fashion us in the womb?
Have you heard these words before? – ‘Examine yourself’ or ‘Take Your Own Inventory’, or how about ‘Getting To Know You?’
I think this important knowledge plays out in three ways. For one thing let us all consider that God knows us. Then from observation others know us. And do not forget that hopefully we are able to understand ourselves.
Here are some awesome portions of Scripture where our Precious Holy Spirit brings this important factor into consideration;
Psalm 44: 21 “Would not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart
Psalm 77: 6 “I call to remembrance my song in the night; I meditate within my heart, and my spirit makes diligent search.
Psalm 139: 23, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties;
Ecclesiastes 7: 25, “I applied my heart to know, to search and seek out wisdom and the reason of things, to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness.
Jeremiah 17: 10, “I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.
Lamentations 3: 40, “Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the LORD;
One of the classic old musical movies was the ‘King and I’. The song ‘Getting to know you’ was written by Rodgers and Hammerstein way back in 1951. Here are the words;
Getting to know you, getting to know all about you.
Getting to like you, getting to hope you like me.
Getting to know you, putting it my way,
But nicely,
You are precisely,
My cup of tea.
Getting to know you,
Getting to feel free and easy
When I am with you,
Getting to know what to say
Haven't you noticed
Suddenly I'm bright and breezy
Because of all the beautiful and new
Things I'm learning about you
Day by day.
Sharing your spirit,
Sharing your tears and your laughter
Hoping it goes on,
Hoping it lasts endlessly
Getting to know you, putting it my way,
But sweetly,
You are completely,
My friend you see.
Telling you my dreams,
Getting to feel that you're with me
Making our own fun,
Knowing we know how to play
Now that I've met you
Suddenly I'm mostly happy
I've found a new pal, beautiful and true
Yes I'm talking about you
Friends today
I hope you noticed in our reading of this chapter that our friend Job is taking his own inventory by reviewing his life.
We see in verses 1 through 4 Job acquitting himself from having an unclean heart. In his continual self examination Job looked at his business interactions with others and felt that he never committed any fraud or injustice. Our Holy God had given Adam a wife - one woman not many. Job knew that he had remained faithful to his wife and reveals in verses 9 through 15 that he never committed Adultery.
1 “I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young woman? 2 For what is the allotment of God from above, and the inheritance of the Almighty from on high? 3 Is it not destruction for the wicked, and disaster for the workers of iniquity? 4 Does He not see my ways, and count all my steps? 5 “If I have walked with falsehood, or if my foot has hastened to deceit, 6 let me be weighed on honest scales, that God may know my integrity. 7 If my step has turned from the way, or my heart walked after my eyes, or if any spot adheres to my hands, 8 then let me sow, and another eat; Yes, let my harvest be rooted out. 9 “If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or if I have lurked at my neighbor’s door, 10 then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down over her. 11 For that would be wickedness; yes, it would be iniquity deserving of judgment. 12 For that would be a fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all my increase. 13 “If I have despised the cause of my male or female servant when they complained against me, 14 what then shall I do when God rises up? When He punishes, how shall I answer Him? 15 Did not He who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same One fashion us in the womb?
In the book of 1 John 16 we learn about the 3 areas of weakness which cause many to fall, “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. In relationship to these Job claims that he did not fall victim to these fallen desires.
Against the lusts of the flesh, He not only kept himself clear from adultery, from defiling his neighbor’s wives, but from all lewdness with any women whatsoever. He kept no concubine, no mistress, but was inviolably faithful to the marriage bed, though his wife was none of the wisest, best, or kindest. From the beginning it was so, that a man should have but one wife and cleave to her only; and Job kept closely to that institution and abhorred the thought of transgressing it; for, though his greatness might tempt him to it, his goodness kept him from it.
To accomplish this control over his flesh Job developed a few resolutions. First of all he made a covenant to control what he looked at. He made sure that when he came upon a beautiful woman he would not allow himself to take in her beauty. Job knew from history not far in his past that the first sin began in the eye. In the book of Genesis chapter 3 verse 6 we find out, “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes. We must not mess with what we might lust after; and therefore what we must not lust after we must not look at.
A second safeguard was that Job controlled his thoughts and would not allow his thoughts to control him. He would not so much as allow a wandering thought. What governed Job’s commitment was his fear of hurting God. Job knew and so should we understand that uncleanness is a sin that forfeits all good coming from our Holy Father, and shuts us out from the hope of it. What blessing can impure sinners expect from the pure and Holy God, or what measure of His favor? What inheritance of the Almighty can anyone look for from on high? There is no portion, no inheritance, no true happiness, for a soul, but what is in God, in the Almighty, and what comes from above, from on high. Anyone that lives in uncleanness render themselves utterly unfit for communion with God, either in grace here or in glory hereafter
Please take note that verse 3 points out that this type of sin incurs divine vengeance. It will certainly be the sinner’s ruin if it be not repented of in time. Like we read from the beginning of Genesis, this is the sinfulness of the sin that it alienates the mind from God. Here is an important fact for all to understand and take to heart. Sins cannot be hidden from the all-seeing God. An impure thought cannot be so close, nor a shameless look so quick, as to escape his awareness, much less any act of uncleanness so secretly done as to be out of His sight. If Job was at any time tempted to this sin, he restrained himself from it, and all approaches to it, with this pertinent thought in his mind.
He stood upon his guard against the love of the world, and carefully avoided all sinful indirect means of getting wealth. He dreaded all forbidden profit as much as all forbidden pleasure. In general, he had been honest and just in all his dealings, and never, to his knowledge, did anybody any wrong.
He never dealt with any kind of falsehood, that is, he never would tell a lie to get a good bargain. It was never his way to banter, or equivocate, or make many words in his dealings. Some men’s constant walk is a constant cheat. They either make what they have more than it is that they may be trusted, or less than it is, that nothing may be expected from them.
We take certain things for granted in our country. Do you ever wonder...?
• If you really got ten gallons the last time you filled your car with gasoline?
• If that premium gasoline really was 87 Octane?
• If you really got a half a pound of roast beef m last week at the deli?
• If that package of corn flakes really had 20 ounces in it?
Most people take it for granted that the measurements that affect them every day of the year are accurate. Luckily for US residents, there is a dedicated group of State and municipal weights and measures officials working to assure measurement accuracy and thus promote a fair and equitable marketplace.
Equity protects both buyer and seller. The buyer is assured that they get what they pay for and the seller is assured of a marketplace based on fair competition. The Department of weights and measures program is a cooperative effort of State and local offices enforcing a single State law.
The weights and measures programs are a critical part of each State's infrastructure, protecting every consumer and every business.
Job’s steps never turned out of the way, the way of justice and fair dealing; from that he never deviated. His heart did not walk after his eyes, that is, he did not covet what he saw that was another’s, nor wish it his own. Covetousness is called the lust of the eye
So confident is he of his own honesty that as we read in verse 6, he is willing to have his goods searched. He is willing to forfeit the whole cargo if there be found any prohibited or contraband goods, anything but what he came honestly by.
Job describes two more instances of his integrity. He respected other men and their marriages. He did not wrong his own marriage bed. He did not so much as covet his neighbor’s wife; for even his heart was not deceived by a woman. The beauty of another man’s wife did not kindle in him any unchaste desires. Secondly, he never acted or imagined any unchaste design to have another woman besides his wife. He was so adamant about this fact that he was willing to have the same thing done to him and face the shame and heartache done by another man with his wife.
We see this very thing happen against David due to his sin with his best friend’s wife – Bathsheba. We read this in the book of 2 Samuel chapter 16, “15 Meanwhile Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem; and Ahithophel was with him. 16 And so it was, when Hushai the Archite, David’s friend, came to Absalom, that Hushai said to Absalom, “Long live the king! Long live the king!” 17 So Absalom said to Hushai, “Is this your loyalty to your friend? Why did you not go with your friend?” 18 And Hushai said to Absalom, “No, but whom the LORD and this people and all the men of Israel choose, his I will be, and with him I will remain. 19 Furthermore, whom should I serve? Should I not serve in the presence of his son? As I have served in your father’s presence, so will I be in your presence.” 20 Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give advice as to what we should do.” 21 And Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines, whom he has left to keep the house; and all Israel will hear that you are abhorred by your father. Then the hands of all who are with you will be strong.” 22 So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the top of the house, and Absalom went in to his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel. 23 Now the advice of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if one had inquired at the oracle of God. So was all the advice of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.”
Job understands as he indicates in verse 12 that this type of sin might justly become the ruin of his estate. Those that indulge it are said to burn. It consumes all that is good there (the convictions, the comforts), and lays the conscience waste. It kindles the fire of God’s wrath, which, if not extinguished by the blood of Christ, will burn to the lowest hell. It will consume even to that eternal destruction. It consumes the body, it consumes the substance; it roots out all the increase. A good way to remember this is by the simple phrase - Burning lusts bring burning judgments.
Job was the kind of boss they everyone wished he or she ever had. He had a very great tenderness and concern for his servants and ruled them with a gentle hand. He had a great household and he managed it well. By this he evidenced his sincerity that he had grace to govern his passion as well as his appetite.
It is revealed in verse 13 that Job did not despise the cause of his man-servant, nor of his maid-servant, when they contended with him. If they contradicted him in anything, he was willing to hear their reasons. If they had offended him, or were accused to him, he would patiently hear what they had to say for themselves, in their own vindication or excuse. If they complained of any hardship he put upon them, he did not browbeat them, and bid them hold their tongues, but gave them leave to tell their story, and redressed their grievances as far as it appeared they had right on their side. He was tender of them, not only when they served and pleased him, but even when they contended with him. Herein he was a great example to masters, to give to their servants that which is just and equal; to do the same things to them that they expect from them
In the Gospel of Luke chapter 6 verse 44 we read ““For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.
Job knew that what moved him to treat his servants kindly was that he had an eye to Almighty God, both as his Judge and his servants Maker. As his Judge, Job considered, "If I should be imperious and severe with my servants, what then shall I do when God rises up to defend them?’’ He considered that he had a Master in heaven, to whom he was accountable, who will rise up and will visit His judgment for wrongs done to His children. Consider what will become of us if we are cruel and unmerciful to our brethren. The cries of the injured will be heard; the sins of those injured will be punished. Those that showed no mercy shall find none; and what shall we do then?
Job gave great examination to this fact. If he was ever tempted to be harsh with his servants, to deny them their right and turn a deaf ear to their reasoning’s, this thought came into his mind, "Did not he that made me in the womb make him? I am a creature as well as he, and my being is derived and depending as well as his. He partakes of the same nature that I do and is the work of the same hand: Have we not all one Father?’’
In ending to portion of our study let us take to heart that whatever difference there is among men in their outward condition, in their capacity of mind, or strength of body, or place in the world, he that made the one made the other also, which is a good reason why we should not mock at men’s natural infirmities, nor trample upon those that are in any way that we think are our inferiors, but, in everything, do as we would have done unto us.
