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Job 31:3
3 Is not destruction ['eyd] to the wicked [`avval]? and a strange [neker] punishment to the workers [pa`al] of iniquity ['aven]? KJV-Interlinear
3 'Is it not calamity to the unjust, And disaster to those who work iniquity? NASB
The word for destruction means oppression, misfortune, ruin, calamity, separation. The word for strange means something different, something unexpected, something that is not of the ordinary. The word for iniquity means to pant as in over exertion of ones self in a task, to come to nothing, trouble, emptiness or vanity, an indulgence.
Iniquity is the activity of a person who is functioning outside of the will of God. Anyone who is not in fellowship, is outside of the will of God. Gods will, can only be followed while in fellowship. Anything you do while in fellowship, is Gods will. Remember that the state of fellowship, is the state which is absent sin and human good.
All unbelievers are by definition, living outside of the will of God. All believers who do not regularly confess their sins (to God the Father), are not in fellowship and therefore live their lives (imitating unbelievers) outside of the will of God.
Everyone who lives outside of the will of God, lives in iniquity. Iniquity is the production of their every effort in life. Iniquity is equal to nothing. Therefore, living a life outside of Gods will, living out of fellowship, simply means that your life amounts to nothing, regardless of who or what you are, or what you have.
What becomes of the person who lives in a state of nothingness? First, they live a life separated from God, and second their life will amount to ruin, nothing, trouble, misfortune. This is all that a spiritually deficient person can expect out of life. And by the way, ones life is summarized and evaluated at the end of ones life.
What does all of this ruin and destruction mean? It is a strange destruction. Not of the ordinary kind that is common to man.
We can all look around and see disasters in varying degrees and of many different types. Disasters can occur from acts of nature, from defects in ones genetics, from environmental hazards (smoking, chemicals,etc.), from accidents, from social ostracism, from work politics, layoffs, business downturns, etc. These are all common occurrences of problems that occur in our everyday lives.
But the disaster that will overwhelm the person of iniquity, the person of nothingness, the person of sin and human good, is of a strange type and uncommon. It is an unexpected disaster. And therefore, when it occurs, it totally shocks, takes by surprise, the person.
Everyone who lives their life outside of their spiritual life, comes to accept their everyday beliefs as truth. Their life becomes a habit. They see only the things and the world that exist around them, and never beyond that.
So, when their life finally ends, they will come face to face with reality, perhaps even the first real reality which will finally get their attention (not that God has not given them every opportunity to face and accept reality, during their life).
These are people who have not made the correct covenant between themselves and their eyes. Recall Job has made this commitment on the side of truth.
The eyes represent the physical or carnal side of ones life. They are the lusts, the desires, the attitudes, which form the pattern of life (in iniquity) which the individual freely chooses to pursue. An undisciplined choice.
The other party of this covenant is the real you, the human life within the soul. You can think, and what you think is the real you. So the real you, your human life which resides in the soul, interacts with the physical you (the biological), which is saturated with the sin nature, and makes an agreement.
You can choose truth, or you can choose to indulge yourself in the things of this world.
Truth becomes the recipient of good, reward, benefits that are real and permanent. Iniquity, which is nothing, can only expect nothing, which is the valid wage for nothing.
So, pursue your spiritual life and you can expect good things in your life. Good things includes God training you even with suffering.
Do not pursue your spiritual life, and you can expect nothing for your invested time, in the indulgences (whatever it is you believe, or do) in life.
