You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
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.
Now is the time to post a prayer.
End Of Lesson
Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth.
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