DCLM Daily Manna Friday 8 December 2023
TOPIC: Called To Good Deeds
TEXT: JOB 31:13-23
13 If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant when they contended with me;
14 What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?
15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?
16 If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
17 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;
18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother’s womb;)
19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;
20 If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:
22 Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.
23 For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.
KEY VERSE
“What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?”
(Job 31:14).
DCLM Daily Manna Friday 8 December 2023 MESSAGE
Job knew his calling, having first responded to God’s invitation to righteousness that unveiled itself in his relationship with those in his circle. He gave of his possessions to the needy and shared his food with the hungry. When he saw the unclad, he provided clothing. How about the fatherless? He rushed to give them comfort, as commanded by the Lord. God said of him, “…there is none like him”.
Why was Job moved to these enviable acts of righteousness? He provides the answer himself. “What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?” Job did not want to be like Adam who had nothing good to say about his deeds when the Lord visited “in the cool of the day”. So he piled up acts pleasing to his Lord, according to his appellation as “one that feareth God, and escheweth evil”.
READ DCLM Daily Manna Thursday 7 December 2023 – No Match for Jehovah
The Lord is keeping a record of all our deeds. They are open to Him. Whether we state them plainly as Job did or we do not, the all-seeing God knows them. These deeds are also not hidden from us. Nehemiah knew his and he repeatedly reminded God to remember him. Mordecai had his recorded in a book which God caused to be opened one night and rewarded by the then King. The fear of God motivated them to always do good to others.
The day draws near when the Lord will perform a spiritual audit. When He visits, what acts will He find in your name? Will He find deeds of mercy according to His will, or works of wickedness and worldliness? Where are the souls you have won for Jesus? Job feared God and so he prepared for Him by yielding to His word: “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:8).
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: It is damning to meet the Lord empty-handed.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: AMOS 6 – 9
