Good morning Pastor John,
I’m up reading in Job this morning, and something in chapter 2 struck me so deeply that I couldn’t—and didn’t want to—rush past it. Here is the verse:
- “And Jehovah said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one who fears God and eschews evil? And still, he holds fast his integrity, even though you moved me against him to destroy him without cause.”
As I read about Job losing everything at once—the messengers coming one after another—and Job’s response being, essentially, “You gave it all to me, LORD, and You can take it all away,” it made me cry out to God for a heart like that. I literally thought about my own minor disappointments and the moments where I’ve asked Jesus if He still loves me, and I felt ashamed.
That phrase “he holds fast his integrity” sang to my heart. I want to hold fast my integrity with God. I started thinking about what integrity means in this world, and how much I love what it means in God. Then I was suddenly overwhelmed with a wave of love for Rebekah.
Rebekah does that. She holds fast her integrity with God while she watches her little one suffer. I had the most beautiful picture in my heart of her standing before God, having held fast her integrity down here in this world. That will be worth it all. And it makes me desperately want to hold fast to my integrity with God too.
Oh—and I learned something today, dear teacher. “Eschew” means to deliberately avoid or abstain from. I always thought it meant to despise. I was glad to learn that.
Love,
Beth