“If only you would …”
2 Everything you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you. 3 Yet I prefer to speak to the Almighty and argue my case before God. 4 But you coat [the truth] with lies; you are all worthless doctors. 5 If only you would shut up and let that be your wisdom! Job 13:2-5 HCSB
I had to chuckle at the way this was translated. Not that it was wrong, but that it is written in a way that speaks clearly to my heart and life. I did not expect that type of language from Job. I have always considered him to be the perfect gentleman in his speech. I never expected him to tell his friends: “If only you would shut up and let that be your wisdom!” LOL! He has just gone through great detail in explaining to them that he is just as aware of their knowledge as they are. He has also just told them that they are all “worthless doctors.” One thing about Job, you didn’t have to work at trying to figure out what he thought.
I wonder if people have that issue with any of us? Do we hide behind decorum and society being too polite to tell the truth? What did Jesus call the Scribes and Pharisees? Painted tombs, and snakes! Don’t get me wrong, I think that being polite is also a lost art on our current society, and should be practiced more by all of us. However, being polite and being truthful seems to sometimes be two different things. Beloved, this should not be.
A white lie is just as much a sin as an outrageous lie. How can we expect the unsaved to want salvation when we exhibit evidences of lies and half-truths? We should not only be people of the book, we need to also be people of our word!
