Job 21 – 22

Verse 21:7 is a question all must ask today:

Why do the wicked live
        on an ever-upward path to long life and riches?

This is a fallacy that riches and long lives are the means to success. As the Beatles say, “Money can’t buy you love.” Or for that matter it can’t buy happiness. Our earthly mindset is the hot car, big house and fancy toys are the measure of a successful life, where God shows that most are not so successful financially and often die young. The key to significance is what matters after you die? The car or the souls saved?

Focus on God, if money comes thank Him! In today’s society we see the “banksters” destroying our economy while living large at our expense. The idea they would fraudulently make loans, package them with a false rating, insure them and get rich while at the same time evicting the person who bought the home and taking that asset to boot, is awful. Then to do this without acknowledging God, or if they do it’s not the God of Israel. We must realize money is a tool for God’s work and not something we just have fun with. Just because some wicked make it hand over fist does not mean God condones their actions.

Verse 21:26 goes back to my initial comment:

But they lie down together in the same dust,
        covered by the same blanket of worms.

We all end up in the ground! The only ones I know that are remembered are the ones who made a significant impact on society. The ones who got rich and then committed suicide because of their fraud are forgotten the next day (note the 12 bankers who committed suicide in recent weeks, name one). Significance comes from what is left behind, a legacy of kindness and service or greed and debauchery. The kind will honor your death; the greedy will just look for what you left them. Look for what matters on the last days, not what makes you happy today.

Verse 22:3 has Eliphaz continuing to ignore what Job is saying:

Is the Highest One made happy if you are righteous?
        Does He profit from your perfect ways?

After some time I am even upset at Job’s friends. They are limited in their scope and looking at the world. They believe their pious remarks are true and cannot see past the reality. Don’t do this no matter how much you know about God and the Bible, you will never know enough!!