Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Job 24:7-8

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Job 24:7-8


7 They cause the naked [`arowm] to lodge [luwn] without clothing [labuwsh], that they have no covering [kacuwth] in the cold [qarah].
8 They are wet [ratab] with the showers [zerem] of the mountains [har], and embrace [chabaq] the rock [tsuwr] for want of a shelter [machaceh]. KJV-Interlinear


7 'They spend the night naked, without clothing, And have no covering against the cold. 8 'They are wet with the mountain rains, And they hug the rock for want of a shelter. NASB


These verses can be viewed from two different perspectives. The first is from the view of the wicked, and the second is from the view of their victims.

While the context of this chapter is a description of the wicked, and that is the context of these verses, the second view is not entirely out of order.

The wicked person is anyone who lives their life habitually out of fellowship and therefore outside of their spiritual life.

Anyone can sin of course, and therefore be out of fellowship, but the pattern of life which you follow is the key to what type of individual you are, not the occasional slip or fall. Confession to God the Father gets you back into fellowship, and that is where your spiritual life actually functions.

In fellowship, you are clothed, housed, fortified, standing in Gods presence, secure and so forth.

Out of fellowship, which includes every unbeliever and every believer who resides out of fellowship, your life is described as being naked, cold, damp, wet, exposed to the elements, unsafe, and homeless.

Without God in your life, you have nothing. Without God in your life, your morals will slip into an uncaring self-centered wanderer. Without God in your life, you will take from others because they have things, and you do not.

In fact whatever you have is in fact taken from someone else, because of your wicked lifestyle. A lifestyle which you have chosen to pursue.

Again, whether you are a dictionary defined tyrant or scoundrel, or a church going prim and proper person, or anything in between, makes no difference. Your actual relationship with God is the only relevant thing that matters in life and determines your righteous or wicked status.

The world was created for the good, not for evil. Evil came along and hijacked the world and takes its resources at will.

God does not provide for evil per se, so evil has to take, to steal as it were, in order to have anything. Evil is undeserving, and drives everything it touches, into failure and destruction.

By taking from others, the wicked in effect attempts to drive them into poverty, homelessness, nakedness and so forth.

Wickedness is the action of evil. Evil is the policy of Satan and wickedness is its production.

With no real destiny, then evil tries to take the destiny that God intends for good, and leave those who would be good, with a destiny of isolation, poverty, nakedness and so forth. But Evil has no real power and in the long run, will eventually lose in all of its attempts.

Today we live in a very diversified and political world. Whether you consider yourself a conservative, a liberal, or indifferent, all three categories of people can be wicked to the core. The only real difference is in how they approach their apathy toward truth.

Liberals approach their rejection toward truth in a proactive manner. Conservatives approach their ignoring of truth in a passive manner. Indifferent folks are a mixture of a little of both approaches.

In every case, all of their collective views mean nothing. They are all living in a cold, wet and hostile environment.

And the odd thing about them all? They are all comfortable within the wicked environment that they have chosen for themselves.

As uncomfortable a life of homelessness, and cold and wet and nakedness is, the wicked do not see their circumstances as being an inconvenience, let alone as being anything other than normal.

Remember that the wild donkey sees his own life as being normal, though he in fact has no real future. At least not a meaningful one.

You should not want your life to emulate that of a wild animal. Besides it isn't very complimentary to you.