Because Job claimed that he had examined himself and found nothing worthy of such extreme punishment from God, Elihu accused him of being full of pride. And verbally attacked him for it for some time. Job’s friends’ incorrect worldview that a person suffered only because of their sin, made them unable to sympathize or encourage Job. Although sinful actions do reap consequences, we live in a world where both the innocent and the guilty suffer. Elihu went on to say that Job’s wickedness was affecting not only himself but others as well. Elihu was correct, our sins do affect those around us, but so do our righteous acts. People are watching us, and they are influenced by what we say and do.<\/p>\n
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told the crowd gathered by the Sea of Galilee that believers are the salt of the world (Matt. 5:13). At that time, salt was so valuable it was used as part of the salary for Roman solders. Salt makes food taste better, adding flavor. Without salt, some foods are tasteless and boring. We all need our lives flavored by God’s grace and mercy so that we can be the flavor of Christ in the world around us. Pastor G. Campbell Morgan said, “The world needs salt because it is corrupt and it needs light because it is dark.”<\/p>\n
I love the story of the king who called for his 3 daughters and asked each one how much she loved him. Two of them answered that they cared for him more than all the gold and silver in the world, but the youngest said that she loved him like salt. The king wasn’t pleased with her answer, as he considered salt to be of very little value. The cook who overheard the conversation knew that the child’s reply had more significance than the father imagined. She dared not speak to the king, but planned a subtle way to emphasize the true meaning of the young girl’s words. The next morning at breakfast, she withheld the salt from everything she served. The meal was so bland the king didn’t enjoy it at all, and it was in that moment that he realized the full force of his daughter’s remark.<\/p>\n
“LORD, help us to maintain actions and words today that encourage people toward You and not away from You.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n Job 35 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0Elihu spake moreover, and said,\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0Thinkest thou this to be right,\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>thou saidst, My righteousness\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>more than God\u2019s?\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto thee?\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>, What profit shall I have,\u00a0if I be cleansed\u00a0<\/em>from my sin?\u00a0\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0I will answer thee, and thy companions with thee.\u00a0\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds\u00a0which\u00a0<\/em>are higher than thou.\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? or\u00a0if\u00a0<\/em>thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him?\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand?\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0Thy wickedness\u00a0may hurt\u00a0<\/em>a man as thou\u00a0art;\u00a0<\/em>and thy righteousness\u00a0may profit\u00a0<\/em>the son of man. 9<\/sup>\u00a0By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make\u00a0the oppressed\u00a0<\/em>to cry: they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty.\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0But none saith, Where\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>God my maker, who giveth songs in the night;\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0There they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of evil men.\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it. 14<\/sup>\u00a0Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him,\u00a0yet\u00a0<\/em>judgment\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>before him; therefore trust thou in him.\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0But now, because\u00a0it is\u00a0<\/em>not\u00a0so\u00a0<\/em>, he hath visited in his anger; yet he knoweth\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>not in great extremity:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain; he multiplieth words without knowledge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Because Job claimed that he had examined himself and found nothing worthy of such extreme punishment from God, Elihu accused him of being full of pride. And verbally attacked him for it for some time. Job’s friends’ incorrect worldview that a person suffered only because of their sin, made them unable to sympathize or encourage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7684"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7684"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16476,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7684\/revisions\/16476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}