Job’s Priorities: Integrity, Family And Property

Feature 3 – September 2019 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Job’s Priorities: Integrity, Family And Property

It is very instructive to notice that the L ORD commended Job for his spiritual integrity. After He had questioned Satan about his activities on the earth, the Lord brought up Job and his exemplary spiritual conduct. We read in Scripture: “Then the L ORD said to Satan, ‘Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?’” (Job 1:8 NKJV ).

The book of Job has many valuable lessons for believers to learn. It shows us that the essence of any spiritual conflict is between God and Satan, and that God will win! Believers can learn that God allows Satan to go only so far, as He works out His own purposes. After all, He controls everything in the universe including the boundary of the sea. Job learned about the Lord’s power in creation as He explained that He commanded the waters to stop on the shorelines: “When I fixed My limit for it, and set bars and doors; when I said, ‘This far you may come, but no farther, and here your proud waves must stop!’” (38:10-11). God, who controls the sea, certainly places limitations on Satan.

From the book of Job, we learn about Job’s great suffering and the failure of his friends to perceive what God was doing in dealing with Job’s self-righteousness. There is great benefit in seeing that God brought Job through the trial and blessed him in his latter days (42:12). In addition we can learn many practical lessons from this man’s life. The Lord commended him because he had his priorities right.

For the average man in the world, and sadly sometimes for believers, priorities are set in this order: property, family and integrity. The unbeliever strives to secure “property” in terms of an education, a good job and a home. Then he looks to raise a family in the pleasant conditions that were created by the first priority. Finally, he looks to be a person of integrity along the way after accomplishing the first two goals. Job had his priorities in the proper order: integrity, family and property. Let us take a closer look and follow his godly example.

Priority One – Spiritual Integrity
Job was a regular man who was commended for his integrity. Four things are said about him: he was blameless and upright, and he feared God and shunned evil. Blameless does not mean sinless. However, he lived a life where no one could charge him with anything that he had done. Job interacted with people, carrying himself in such a way that the Lord stated he was blameless.

This man was also upright; in other words, his personal righteousness was manifested. Personal righteousness stands out clearly in a world of unrighteousness in the same way that a light is seen in darkness. In addition, the Bible points out that Job feared God; he had reverence and great respect for God. Job’s reverential attitude toward God caused him to shun evil. It stands to reason that if one has reverence for God he will avoid evil at all cost out of his respect for the Lord.

The first priority in a Christian’s life should be spiritual integrity. If an individual has integrity it will be seen in every area of his life: marriage, family, assembly, work and community. Integrity should be the hallmark of all believers. “Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in this world” (Phil. 2:14-15). Like Job, our integrity should encompass those four areas: blamelessness, uprightness, reverence for God and avoidance of evil. We are encouraged “to walk worthy” of our calling (Eph. 4:1) and not “as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind” (v.17). Job had a sterling testimony because of his relationship with the Lord and his spiritual integrity.

We believers often miss priority one. We frequently start with property, in terms of an education needed to secure what is thought of as a good life. We think about the amount of money we need to make to secure a good future for our families. Yes, a quality education is extremely important in order to secure a good job. Family is extremely important. Children are extremely important and precious too because they are given to us by God (Ps. 127:3). However, notice what the Lord said: “Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you” (Mt. 6:31-33). The Lord will supply all of our needs as we seek His kingdom and are engaged in spiritual pursuits.

Upon meeting believers, after the preliminary questions are answered about family and health, the majority of time is often spent discussing a job. Instead, while one believer should not badger another about his spiritual life, each believer should be free to encourage each other in the Lord. There should be spiritual encouragement and engagement. In our society it has become difficult to ask a Christian about his walk with the Lord and his spiritual well-being. As we look at the way Job prioritized his life, it might have been the first question that he asked a believer in his day. It certainly might have been the first question that he asked his children. “Those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and those who meditate on His name” (Mal. 3:16).

Priority Two – Family
“So it was, when the days of feasting had run their course, that Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, ‘It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.’ Thus Job did regularly” (Job 1:5). Job’s second priority was his family. He was concerned about the spiritual well-being of his seven sons and the spiritual state of his three daughters, but perhaps he knew the tendencies of his sons more acutely.

As a father, Job was concerned about every area of his children’s lives, but he was really concerned during the times of feasting! Often, times of feasting can lead to destruction. The family was wealthy; each son had a house, perhaps a beautiful home. Each son had an appointed day to invite all of the other siblings, including his sisters, to his home to eat and drink. Although the context of Ecclesiastes 7:2 is talking about the seriousness and certainty of death, we read about a house of feasting: “Better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men; and the living will take it to heart.”

Job did not know for a fact that his sons had sinned, but he was exercised for them and acted on their behalf. This is remarkable because his sons were grown men. He was watchful, alert and acted. Job offered burnt offerings for his seven sons on a regular basis. Later we see that the burnt offering was a voluntary offering: “If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it of his own free will ... before the Lord” (Lev. 1:3). No doubt with Job’s wealth, as given to him by God, he offered bullocks. The spiritual condition of his family was a concern, not based on known sin but on knowing his family and the deceitfulness of riches.

Christian parents need to be more concerned about the spiritual state of their children than their own successful status in a sinful world. “Fathers, do not provoke children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). Job did not seem to be overly concerned about his children’s position in the world. We do not know if they were physicians or attorneys, nor how wealthy each child was individually. We do know that their father wanted them to flourish spiritually.

Sometimes believers boast that their sons and daughters have very successful careers; they relish the fact that their children own beautiful properties. Of course parents should be proud of accomplishments of their sons and daughters, but the real priority should be that they are flourishing spiritually. Is your son a Christian who is a doctor or a doctor who happens to be a Christian? What about your daughter, is she a Christian who is a lawyer or a lawyer who happens to be a Christian?

The Lord used the apostle Paul mightily in many ways, including writing most of the New Testament as led by the Spirit of God. Paul was a Christian first and foremost, but a tentmaker by trade. “After these things Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla (because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome); and he came to them. So, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked; for by occupation they were tentmakers” (Acts 18:1-3).

Let us be encouraged to have a great priority for our families’ spiritual health. Whether we are married or single, young or old, the spiritual well-being of our families should be essential.

Priority Three – Property
Job was extremely wealthy! He had possessions, but they did not have him. “His possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East” (Job 1:3). Job’s third priority was property. He recognized that all of his wealth came from the Lord. When the trial came, and all of his wealth and children were taken away from him very quickly, “he said: Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (v.21).

His wealth was more a means to an end than an end goal; it seems that his money was simply used to take care of the needs of his family. Scripture recognizes that he was the greatest man in the East, but Job was not egotistical, or boastful and selfish. He had no particular feeling about his money, and he had no sorrow, “The blessing of the LORD makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it” (Prov. 10:22). Job had the proper attitude toward wealth.

All of God’s people have needs. He takes care of all His children and allows some of them to be wealthy. Abraham was wealthy (Gen. 13:2), but he was not distracted by possessions. He was a pilgrim on the earth, dwelling in tents. He did not settle down to enjoy his riches. “By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11:9-10). Abraham did not look at his wealth; instead he looked ahead for God’s city. Job was rich too, yet his focus was to live for God.

Still, the Lord would have some of us to be poor. In that blessed scene of John 12, Mary’s spiritual perception and sincere worship for the Lord was challenged by Judas. The Lord came to her rescue; He acknowledged her perception and accepted her worship. As He rebuked Judas, He made a powerful statement about the poor: “Jesus said, ‘Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial. For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always” (Jn. 12:7-8). Although the Lord will provide for all of our needs, He, in His divine wisdom and sovereignty, allows some of us to be poor.

The Christian should not strive to live in a hut or a palace. He, like Job, should be satisfied with what God has given him through hard work. Paul reminded us that God provides for all of our needs: “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19). The needs that we have go beyond property. Job’s wealth provided for shelter, food, clothing and any other need the family had. Property, as our third priority, includes all of our earthly needs.

God is faithful. He was faithful to Job; He will be faithful to us also. Therefore, “be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (vv.6-7).

Finally, let us not despise the poor Christian. God has allowed his poverty as He provides for his needs. It is not about gathering things on the earth; we cannot serve God and mammon, meaning money (Mt. 6:24). “Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20). Let us put property in the right place!

Conclusion
It is an easy thing to have our priorities out of order. The Christian life is about making adjustments according to Scripture. Our main goal is to be conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). May we be encouraged to learn some practical lessons from the life of Job, for he was a man who had his priorities in order. The sequence of his priorities was spiritual integrity, family and property. Let us be mindful not to align with the world in its sequence of priorities.

By Albert Stuart