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 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.
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.
|