Matt.6:2
So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites
do in the synagogues and in the streets so they be honoured by men. Truly I say to you,
they have their reward.
Didn’t Ray warn us that this was something the Pharisees did and would keep you out of the Kingdom of God. Doing good works to be see by men.
Is this not a warning to turn away from this sinful practice and repent?
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Didn’t
People honour Job and stand for him when he entered the town?
Yes they did, and no one could have given him more importance than Job gave himself. These are just a few scriptures from Job 29, but if you read the whole chapter you'll get a clearer sense of it.
This is Job speaking of his high position of importance among the people.
They waited for me as for showers
and drank in my words as the spring rain.
24 When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it;
the light of my face was precious to them.
If I were to say something so outrageous and egotistical, you guys here on this forum would have a thing or two to say about it, don't you think?
Who do the three friends represent in Job 32:1
.
Job’s three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar,
In Job 2:11–13. they came to him when he was suffering. And they empathized with him: “they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads” (verse 12). Verse 13 states they were with him for seven days before they offered their advice.
While his friends were correct that sin had to be at the root of Job's problem, they portrayed God wrongly, by believing he was punishing Job for not doing enough good,. On the other hand, by Job justifying himself, he was condemning God as being unjust.
And with righteous indignation Job stood firm, insisting on his own innocence, not even allowing that he could be guilty of any sin or sins, which could be the cause of his afflictions; and the 3 men gave up because it had become pointless to reason with Job. None of the counsel helped because Job was righteous in his own eyes (Job 32:1).
Even before God, Job's attitude was one of self-righgeousness.
Job 7:20
If I have sinned, what have I done to you, you who see everything we do? Why have you made me your target? Have I become a burden to you?
The three men stopped answering Job, because he
was righteous in his own eyes.
How would they know he was righteous in his own eyes unless they were not. Are they the Elect?
Even though I'm striving to be, I am not a righteous person, but if you stood before me and proclaimed you were blameless, and sinless before God, I would consider you to have a self-rightgeous attitude, and I'd be right.
Ecclesiastes 7:20
Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
Even though Job was “perfect and upright” in how he observed the strict letter of God’s law, he was weak in the spirit of the law. He was full of vanity and pride.
And as Michelle so rightly pointed out...
"Then if God considers Job have something evil in his heart to be cleansed: God finds it for sure!
And we can be sure, as human as we are, there’s something always to be cleansed in our hearts until we are in Jesus’ image!"
Because of this, God allowed him to endure a horrendous period of trial and test so he could clearly see himself in relation to God.
Some lessons are hard learned, as many of us can attest to.
Bad things do happen to good people that are not yet sinless.
But in the end Job repented, and God was rightly Glorified ☺