God’s Heart for the Poor – Job 29

While we are considering God’s heart for those who live on the fringes this week,  we now turn to the Book of Job.  This is a passage that I never even realized was there until I was recently reading Timothy Keller’s “Generous Justice.”

If we consider Job to be a righteous man after God’s heart, then it is important for us to pay attention to what his life looked like.  Consider Job’s life of justice and the detailed ways that He showed God’s heart to the vulnerable who were experiencing injustice.

7 “When I went to the gate of the city
   and took my seat in the public square,
8 the young men saw me and stepped aside
   and the old men rose to their feet;
9 the chief men refrained from speaking
   and covered their mouths with their hands;
10 the voices of the nobles were hushed,
   and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.
11 Whoever heard me spoke well of me,
   and those who saw me commended me,
12 because I rescued the poor who cried for help,
   and the fatherless who had none to assist them.
13 The one who was dying blessed me;
   I made the widow’s heart sing.
14 I put on righteousness as my clothing;
   justice was my robe and my turban.
15 I was eyes to the blind
   and feet to the lame.
16 I was a father to the needy;
   I took up the case of the stranger.
17 I broke the fangs of the wicked
   and snatched the victims from their teeth.”   Job 29