Outline
Ⅱ
Job was a good man, expressing himself in his perfection, uprightness, and integrity—Job 27:5; 31:6; 32:1:
A
Being perfect is related to the inner man, and being upright is related to the outer man—1:1.
B
Job was a man of integrity; integrity is the totality of being perfect and upright—2:3, 9; 27:5; 31:6:
１
With respect to Job, integrity is the total expression of what he was.
２
In character, Job was perfect and upright, and in his ethics, he had a high standard of integrity.
C
Job feared God positively and turned away from evil negatively—1:1:
１
God did not create man merely to fear Him and not do anything wrong; rather, God created man in His own image and according to His likeness that man may express God—Gen. 1:26.
２
To express God is higher than fearing God and turning away from evil.
３
What Job had attained in his perfection, uprightness, and integrity was altogether vanity; it neither fulfilled God's purpose nor satisfied His desire, and thus He was lovingly concerned for Job—Job 1:6-8; 2:1-3.
D
Only God knew that Job had a need—he did not have God within him; therefore, God wanted Job to gain Him in order to express Him for the fulfillment of His purpose—42:5-6.
Morning Nourishment
Job 2:3 …Have you considered My servant Job? For there is none like him on the earth, a perfect and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity…1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been manifested what we will be. We know that if He is manifested, we will be like Him because we will see Him even as He is.
“There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and this man was perfect and upright, and he feared God and turned away from evil” [Job 1:1]. Being perfect is related to the inner man, and being upright is related to the outer man. Furthermore, to be upright means that we are not crooked or biased. In addition to being perfect inwardly and upright outwardly, Job feared God positively and turned away from evil negatively…God did not create man merely to fear Him and not do anything wrong. The Bible tells us that God created man in His own image and according to His likeness that man may express Him (Gen. 1:26)…The most positive thing is to express God. To express God is higher than fearing God and turning away from evil. (Life-study of Job, p. 9)
Today’s Reading
Another word used in relation to Job the man is integrity [Job 2:3]… Job’s wife asked him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity?” [v. 9]. In 27:5 Job said to his friends, “Until I die, I will not put away my integrity from me.” Finally, in 31:6 Job declared, “Let God know my integrity.”…Integrity is the totality of being perfect and being upright; it is the totality of perfection plus uprightness. With respect to Job, integrity is the total expression of what he was. In character he was perfect and upright, and in his ethics he had a high standard of integrity.What Job had attained was altogether vanity. It did not fulfill God’s purpose, and it did not satisfy God’s desire. Thus, God was lovingly concerned for Job and held two councils in heaven concerning how to deal with Job (1:6-8; 2:1-3). Ethically speaking, Job was very good. According to human eyes, there was no problem with Job. God even boasted to Satan regarding how good Job was (1:8; 2:3). Only God knew that Job had a need, that he was short of God. Because of His loving concern for Job, God held a council in the heavens to talk about Job. Eventually, God’s intention was to make Job a man of God (1 Tim. 6:11; 2 Tim. 3:17), filled with Christ, the embodiment of God, to be the fullness of God for the expression of God in Christ, not a man of the high standard of ethics in Job’s natural perfection, natural uprightness, and natural integrity, which Job attempted to maintain and hold (Job 2:3, 9a). (Life- study of Job, pp. 10, 17, 11, 29)
Christians should seek to gain God more than any other matter or thing… To gain God is deeper and more subjective than merely to believe in His existence or to fear Him. Many thoughtful people believe that God exists and even fear Him, but God is not in them…To believe in God is to gain Him subjectively in one’s spirit. When a person believes in God, he opens his heart to receive God and to let God enter into him and dwell in his spirit. Hence, he can be joined and mingled with God, and God can become his element. When we let God enter into us to be our life and nature and even our being, we are joined to Him as one. This is the meaning of being a Christian. Every Christian should know that God desires man to gain Him.
To gain God does not refer merely to believing in Him or fearing Him objectively. To gain God is to receive Him into us subjectively, that is, to let Him be our life and nature and to let Him mingle with us until He becomes our element. Then His thoughts will be our thoughts, His emotions will be our emotions, His preferences will be our preferences, and His inclinations will be our inclinations. This is what it means to gain God. (CWWL, 1950-1951, vol. 3, “The Operation of God and the Anointing,” pp. 405-406)
Further Reading: Life-study of Job, msgs. 2—4